Que Sera Sera
by esprit en deuil
Summary: A slight AU fic written for a challenge by donttouch. This is my take on how Tony met Gibbs. Pre-slash Gibbs/Dinozzo.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I'm here again with a new fic in tow! This one is written for donttouch based on a challenge in her profile. This story is preslash Gibbs/Dinozzo and there will be a sequel written. This fic is almost finished so I'll be posting it pretty regularly (maybe a chapter every few days) I hope you enjoy it :) (and the title is shamelessly stolen from the song because i love it ;D ) **_

_He was running. There was something behind him, gaining on him with every leap of the short legs of the five year old. _

_Tony could feel the breath of the thing that was after him on the back of his neck, he didn't know what it was and he was too scared to turn and look as that would only serve to make it more real. _

_So he ran, and ran, until he stumbled and fell to the ground and he could feel the thing looming over him and it's fingers digging into his soft flesh. _

Five year old Tony Dinozzo woke up with a scream as the remnants of the nightmare made him still feel the fingers ghosting over him in the waking world and when he felt a hand on his shoulder he screamed once more and tried to pull away.

"Shh Tonio, there's nothing to fear I'm here with you"

"Daddy!" Tony threw himself into his fathers arms which tightened protectively around him as the bulky Italian man rocked his now crying son in his arms.

"Shh, it's okay it was just a dream" Anthony senior murmured softly to his younger son and rubbed his back as the boy cried in his arms and still kept soothing the boy even after the tears stopped and he just laid his head on his father's chest, clutching the older man with his small hands.

"I'm sorry Daddy, big boys don't cry." Tony still didn't move his head from the older man's chest so the man pressed a kiss to it and whispered in his son's ear.

"It's okay to cry son when you are scared. Do you think you can go back to sleep now bambino?" Tony pulled back enough to look at his dad before biting his lip as he pondered whether he should voice his request or not.

"What is it Tonio?" Senior asked as he saw the indecision on his son's face.

"Can I come sleep with you and mommy?" Anthony looked down at his son and saw the fear that still lurked in the beautiful green eyes.

"Of course you can junior." He frowned a bit when the boy shivered and stood up with his small son still in his arms. "Lets get you to bed before you catch a cold."

Tony sleepily held onto his father until he was lowered to lie in the middle of his parents' bed. He knew his big brother Chris would tease him about it in the morning, but right now he wanted the safety of being protected by his parents.

"Antonio? What's wrong?" Celia Dinozzo asked as she was awoken by the movements of the bed dipping beside her.

"Nothing is wrong dear, little Tonio had a nightmare and he's sleeping with us tonight." Anthony answered as he smiled at the name only his wife called him and got to bed beside his small son who was curled up under the covers.

Celia turned to face her son and pressed a kiss to his forehead before making sure he was carefully tucked in as she saw another shiver go through his thin frame.

"You warm enough Tonio?" she asked his son who was on the verge of falling asleep.

"Yes Mama, Good night" Anthony too placed a kiss to his son's brow and settled in so that Tony could rest his head on his father's shoulder and curl next to him.

"Good night little one" Anthony said and the sentiment was echoed by his wife who started to sing in a soft voice the song that always soothed her youngest when he had had a nightmare. When the last words of 'Que Sera Sera' passed her lips she smiled at the sight of both father and son sleeping peacefully. She allowed her own eyes to slide closed and soon all three were sleeping peacefully on the big bed, while the fourth member of the family slept peacefully in his own bed, and none of their sleep was disturbed by anything for the rest of the night.

The next morning tony woke up before his parents and he felt a bit embarrassed that he had acted like a baby and had to sleep with his mommy and daddy, he was five years old already so he should be big enough to handle a nightmare without crying.

He decided to get up and go to his room to change out of his pajamas without waking up his parents. He carefully moved his head from where it was resting on his father's arm and moved to kneel on the bed. He then decided to move over his dad and get out of bed, but as he lifted one of his legs to go over the seemingly sleeping man, Tony yelped as his dad sat up and grabbed his son by the armpits and laid him back on the bed and proceeded to tickle the squirming kid with all his might, exploiting every ticklish spot he knew of.

Celia woke up to the sound of her son's laughter and the chuckles from his husband and as she saw the scene in front of her she smiled and quickly took the camera that had been resting on her nightstand and snapped a picture as a smile danced on her lips.

At some point before her waking up, their oldest son who was only five years older than Tony, but fiercely protective of his brother, had came into the room after hearing his brother's gasping laughter and was now trying to get the older man to stop tickling his baby brother while laughing himself when one of his father's hands left his brother and went after his sides instead.

Soon both of the boys were being tickled by their parents until both lay giggling on the bed side by side while the parents looked down at their sons and laughed themselves at the sight of the boys lying gasping a bit, but giggling like loonies after the attack of the nimble fingers.

"Run Tony!" Chris yelled and took his brother's hand and together the two boys ran out of the room before the attack could start again. Anthony just chuckled at their boys antics before turning and wishing good morning to his wife and dropping a kiss to her lips.

"Good morning to you too Antonio" she answered with a sweet smile. "Maybe we should get dressed for the day and see what the two monsters are up to" but there was no sting to her words, just a gentle humor colored them and caused Anthony to give another small chuckle as he got up from bed and offered a hand to Celia, who gracefully took it, even if she didn't need the help.

"Oh I'm sure they're up to something alright lets just hope it's not anything bad or anything that will give the maid more gray hairs." Anthony said, thinking of the mess the maid had found in the kitchen when the boys decided to make their mommy a mother's day breakfast. Well at least the toast had been edible even if it was almost black and had ended up on the plate and not on the walls or floor like the pancakes.

They quickly dressed and made their way into the kitchen and both let out a sigh of relief when both boys were sitting by the table eating cereals and there was no mess in sight. They shared a small laugh as they realized what they both had been thinking before pressing good morning kisses to their sons' heads and going to get their own breakfast.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:Hiya folks! So here is chapter two of this fic :) There is a big time jump between this and chapter one, but I just couldn't think of what to write in between soooooo. Anyways (have you noticed I use that word a lot?) Thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or put this story on alert or to favorites, it's great to see that people are enjoying the story :) **_

11- year- old Tony and his older brother Chris sat on the sofa of the suite they had in the only hotel of Stillwater Pennsylvania, as they waited for their father to emerge from his bedroom. Anthony Dinozzo senior had a business meeting to attend to and his wife had flown to Italy to meet one of her oldest friends as the woman had fallen ill, so it was decided that the boys would go with their father.

Christopher had shown great interest of following his dad's steps into the family business so the 16 years-old was more than happy to go to the meeting that if successful, would be a big opportunity for the company.

Tony however was less pleased of the prospect of sitting in a long meeting all day, listening to the lawyers and other men talk about things he had no interest in. The younger of the brothers had never shown the same interest as Chris towards the business so while his brother went through details of the contract they were offering the town, Tony thought of a way to get out of attending.

When Anthony exited the bedroom and caught sight of his boys sitting side by side on the couch, both lost in though, he walked over to them and announced that it was time they left.

"Dad, maybe I could go take a look around town while you two go to the meeting." Tony flashed a hopeful look at his dad as he heard his big brother snort at the pleading in his voice.

Anthony sighed and looked at his son. The Italian man wasn't disappointed or mad at his son for not showing any interest towards following in his footsteps. But he was very protective of both of his sons, but especially the younger one as he could be quite naive at times, even if his good will was one of the things that made almost everyone fall in love with the sweet boy. But with the innocence came the risk of being easily hurt, so Anthony was reluctant to let the boy out on his own, but his hesitancy was no match to the puppy dog eyes his son was giving him and so he succumbed to Tony's wish.

"Don't go too far from the hotel and be back by six at the latest. Here's some money so you can buy something to eat somewhere or you can return to the hotel and order room service. We'll be back by six ourselves"

Chris shook his head with a smirk as his father gave in and allowed Tony to skip the meeting. He didn't begrudge his brother the fact that he still was the baby of the family and had everyone wrapped around his little finger, after all Chris was one of the people who had been wrapped around the little digit ever since Tony was born.

The teenager was pulled out from his musings when he heard his brother answer to their dad.

"Yes Sir!" Tony did a salute before going to give his dad a hug "Thank you, and have fun in your meeting" Anthony snorted at his son's antics as he hugged the boy tightly.

"Behave Tonio, lets get going Chris" Anthony said as he pressed a kiss to his son's head before letting go of him and made his way to the door.

Chris followed his dad, but gave Tony a glance before exiting the room. He hoped his brother would do as he had been told, but he knew that his baby brother could attract trouble like no one else he knew. He followed the older man and pushed down the bad feeling he had for leaving the boy alone, not knowing about the similar thoughts running through their father's head.

Tony watched as the two figures left the room and looked down at he suit he was wearing and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He went to change into more comfortable and appropriate clothing for a day of strolling the little town. He donned a pair of blue jeans and one of his old t-shirts, deciding to forgo the sweat shirt as the weather wasn't yet really cold enough to warrant it,

He stuffed the money his father had given him into the pocket of his jeans and made sure he had the key to the room with him so he could get back in and after making sure he had everything, he left the room and the hotel.

As he stepped out of the only hotel in the small town he took in the buildings and people, both of which looked so different than those in the city. The town had a rustic feeling to it and Tony had never seen anything like it except in some of the movies he liked to watch with his brother.

He started to walk down the main street of the town, which was basically the street that had all the shops and other places on either side of it. When he reached the end of the shops and offices he was a bit disappointed to not having seen anyplace that would have grabbed his interest. He decided to take his exploration a bit further and he checked the time to make sure he still had enough of it to walk around a bit and get something to eat before he was expected back at the hotel.

He wandered back the way he came until he saw a small gravel road stray from the street he was walking. He decided to follow the road for a while and see where it would lead him, and he figured that as long as he followed the single road, it would be easy for him to find his way back.

He walked the small road for some time until he saw a small store by the side of the road. He saw that it was almost three and he was getting a bit thirsty after walking around for some time, so he went to the store and stepped inside.

It was easy to navigate the tiny shop, so Tony walked straight to the shelf he saw some beverages on, so he walked to it and reached to take a bottle of juice when he was startled by a voice behind him and dropped the plastic bottle.

"Hello there, I'm sorry I startled you, but I was just wondering if you needed any help?" He turned to see an older man with a short salt and pepper hair and he figured it must be the shop keeper. The man smiled kindly at the boy and introduced himself. "My name is Jackson Gibbs, I haven't seen you around, you new in town?" he said as he picked up the bottle the boy had dropped and handed it back to him.

"Um I'm Tony Dinozzo, My dad's in town for some business so we're just visiting. I was just thinking of buying something to drink before heading back to our hotel." The man nodded at his explanation

"Yeah, it's a pretty long way to the hotel, you walk all the way from there, that must be almost four miles." Tony blinked in surprise when the man told him how long way he'd come. He hadn't even realized it as he walked. "You sure you wanna walk back? I have a son who should be back from town any time now and I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a ride."

"That's alright Mister Gibbs, it's not that long." Tony walked to the counter with the older man and paid for the juice.

Jackson reached for a jar on the counter and took out a candy bar and handed it to the boy.

"Take this, it'll do you no good to collapse walking back if your blood sugar drops." Jackson winked at him and smiled as the boy took the bar a bit hesitantly.

"I can't just take this, I have enough money to pay it." Tony said, not wanting to be rude and refuse the candy, but wanting to make sure he wasn't troubling the shopkeeper.

"Nonsense, you just take the candy and you'd better get going if you want to get back before it gets dark"

"Thank you sir, good day" Tony said as he smiled at the older man and turned to walk out of the store. He thought he heard the man muttering something along the lines of 'don't sir me I work for a living' but he didn't think that made any sense so he let it go.

He turned to walk back the way he came, munching on the candy bar,, but he saw a small pond on to other side of the road from the store he hadn't noticed earlier so he walked over to it, not noticing two men who had also been in the store come out after him and stand by the wall and observe him.

He stopped on the shore to pick up a handful of perfect looking flat rocks before moving to stand on a small pier. He looked at the rocks and his mind went back to a movie he had seen once, where a bunch of boys made such rocks bounce on the surface of a lake and he smiled in delight as he took one of the rocks into his right hand and stood by the end of the pier.

With a whole body twist he threw the small rock and gave a disappointed pout as the rock hit the water with a splash but didn't bounce at all. He threw another rock, but with the same results. With a determined look he concentrated hard, his tongue peeking out from between his lips and his eyes narrowed and he channeled his favorite baseball pitcher and let the rock fly. The boy gave a whoop of surprised joy when the rock gave one jump before sinking to the depths of the pond. He then threw the rest of the rocks one by one and grinned widely whenever he managed to make them bounce more than once.

Tony was just about to throw his last stone when he heard first the crunch of footsteps before the boards of the pier creaked behind him.

"Lookie here, we've got ourselves a city slicker." Tony tensed as he heard the voice of a man and he turned to find two burley men looming over him.

"Yeah and not just any kid but the brat of the great Dinozzo who thinks he can just walk into this town and have it worshiping the ground he stands on. Where's your daddy now boy? Destroying people's living?"

Tony didn't understand what the men were talking about and the smell wafting from their breath told the young boy that the men were drunk, and he remembered what his mom had said about drunk men being dangerous.

He tried to take a step back, but the edge of the pier was just behind him, so he only managed a small step. He looked at the eyes of the men and saw the menace in them, but didn't show any fear as he stood at the edge of the platform and addressed the men. "Well he's in a meeting but if you'd like to leave a message I'll be sure to give it to him." He flashed a bright fake smile and calculated his chances of getting past the guys, the smile faltered when the men looked him up and down and gave an evil smirk.

"Oh you'll be sure to give him our message will you, well I guess it would be rude to not make the most of this opportunity"

With that, the man who had been talking lunged at the kid who tried to dive around him and run from the pier, but the other man had seen the move coming and blocked his way. Tony felt his ankle twist under him as he was grabbed and he tried to struggle against the hands that were holding him, but a hard slap to his face caused his lip to split and he stopped in shock of the unexpected hit. The man decided to make his point clear and gave another hard slap just for good measure.

"Now that's better" he watched with satisfaction as the kid looked a bit dazed and hung limply in the second man's arms. The man grabbed the boys face in his hand, but before he could say anything he caught sight of a car coming down the road and he motioned to the other man to release the kid before they took off running.

When the man pushed him, Tony tried to take his weight, but his ankle wouldn't support him, so to his horror he found himself falling from the pier into the cold water. He gave a shout of surprise just as the freezing water hit him and he sank under the surface. He managed to get his head above water again, but the fact that he couldn't reach the bottom caused him to panic and he started to call for help and tried to keep his head above the surface, but the shock of hitting the cold water and the panic had caused him to inhale some of the water and his breathing was getting more labored by the minute. He thought he saw someone running towards him, but before he could be sure he slipped under the surface and saw only water until everything slipped into darkness.

TBC...

_**A/N: and here I was thinking there wouldn't be any cliffies in this fic.. well I certainly proved me wrong ;D *hides under the bed* **_


	3. Chapter 3

Twenty-year-old Leroy Jethro Gibbs drove back from town towards his dad's store in the old pick-up truck. He had come home for his vacation from the Marines and was helping the older man mind the store and when Jackson needed to go and pick up a package from the post office, Leroy, or rather LJ as he liked to be called, had volunteered to go for him.

When he neared the store he saw the Donnelly brothers standing on the pier and he shook his head at the sight of the two guys bullying some kid, but he figured he should stay out of it so he wouldn't cause any trouble since he was in town for only a short time and it would ultimately cause problems for Jackson if he went and kicked the guys' asses for bullying.

LJ watched the two men, but when he saw the older of the two slap the kid in the face he decided to intervene. He parked the car and got out, when he saw the guys run away from the pond and he snorted at their cowardliness, but the small smirk he was sporting died as he saw the kid struggling in the water, not being able to get back to the shore.

He took of in a run and he saw how the kid disappeared from view and didn't come back to surface, he thought he heard his dad yell for him, but he didn't spear any heed to it, his only thought was getting to the boy.

He jumped into the freezing water and dove after the kid, when he felt the material of the boy's shirt in his hand he grabbed onto it and pulled the kid with him to the surface. As he grabbed the edge of the pier he saw his dad stand on it and heard the whispered 'dear lord' before the older man helped his son to get Tony on the platform.

LJ levered himself out of the water and knelt next to his dad who was already checking the boy's breathing.

"He isn't breathing Leroy!" Jackson shouted as he bent to place his hands on the small chest and started doing compressions as his son took on the job of pushing air from his lungs to those of the young kid. The worked in tandem for what felt like hours but was in reality less than two minutes, until water gushed out of Tony's mouth and he took a gasping breathe.

"That's it son, c'mon Tony" Jackson said as he rubbed the boy's back while LJ got him into an upright position and resting sideways against his chest to ease the kid's breathing.

"You know him dad?" he asked, surprised that Jackson had used the boy's first name.

"Yeah, he came to the store a while back to buy a drink, told his name's Tony Dinozzo and that they're staying with his dad in a hotel in town" LJ nodded his head, but his attention was focused in the kid in his arms, he saw him blinking his dazed eyes and look around in confusion. Small shivers wrecked the lean frame and LJ frowned as he felt how cold the boy's skin was.

"Dad, we should take him inside" Jackson nodded and stood up before helping his son get up with Tony still in his arms with the boy's head resting on LJ's shoulder. They made their way to the store and into the back room where the young man gently laid the boy down, but sat behind him to hold him in a half upright position so it would be easier for him to breathe. He had seen the split lip and he bruises already forming on the boy's face and he swore to himself that he'd make the brothers pay for hurting an innocent boy like this.

Tony hadn't really registered his change in location and had been sitting quietly trying to figure out what had happened when it registered that someone was holding him and he remembered the two guys and he started struggling to get away.

"No, let me go. Dad help, Chris" the boy whimpered and pleaded, but he was held firmly against LJ's chest.

"Shh, you're safe, I'm not gonna hurt you buddy" the young man soothed the boy until he calmed down. He saw his dad coming back from the front of the store where he had been to turn on the closed sign and obviously the boy had seen him too, because as soon as the man was kneeling next to them Tony addressed the older man.

"M- Mister Gibbs-" But before he could get any further he was interrupted by a deep, wet cough.

"Yeah it's me son, and my son Leroy is here too. Here lets get you warm, okay." He said as he took a blanket from the back of the couch and with his son's help got it wrapped around the shivering form.

"Dad we should probably take him to the hospital" LJ said from his position behind the boy as Tony stopped coughing, the Italian turned wide eyes to the young man and the younger Gibbs was a bit taken a back by the striking green eyes.

"No hospital, 'm fine"

"Tony you need to get checked out" Jackson tried to reason with the boy who was trying to again get away from the arms still holding him.

"Hotel, What time is it? Dad's waiting for me"

"It's half past five" Leroy supplied as he saw the clock on the wall.

"No, I need to be back by six, please he's gonna worry" The string of words caused another wet cough to erupt and Tony was soon gasping for breathe as Jackson rubbed his back to ease his struggling.

"Leroy here will take you to your hotel and wait with you for your dad to get there and he will call our family doctor to come take a look at you." Jackson gave a look at his son that told him to do as he was told and the younger man nodded his consent.

They helped the boy to stand, but as soon as he tried to take a step his ankle gave out from under him and he would have fallen if the two men hadn't been standing close to him, ready to offer support if needed.

"C'mon son, we'll help you to the car." The two men supported the boy as they made their way to the pick-up and helped Tony into the car.

"Thank you Mister Gibbs" Tony said to the older man who was standing next to the vehicle, watching as his son got into the drivers seat.

"Take care of yourself young man" Jackson said in a way of good bye and watched as LJ started the car and headed towards the center of the town and the hotel.

The ride was silent as Tony had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had set out, the combination of the trauma and the adrenaline crush making the boy exhausted.

LJ found himself watching the boy closely, there was just something about him that made him want to protect the boy from any harm and keep him safe from bullies like the Donnelly brothers.

It didn't take long for them to get to the hotel and Gibbs parked the car before rounding it and shaking the boy awake.

"Tony, we're here" The boy didn't stir at his voice which concerned him so he unbuckled the kid and after finding the key to the hotel room in the kids pocket, lifted him again in his arms and entered the small but classy hotel.

Gibbs paused at the front desk to tell the clerk to call the doctor and he gave the room number that was written on the key before making his way towards the room. He hoped that the boy's dad would be in the room as he couldn't open the door without putting the boy either down or into a fireman's carry, but to his relief his pounding was answered as a teen aged boy opened the door and his eyes widened as he caught sight of this stranger carrying his unconscious baby brother.

Chris started in shock at the man and his brother who hung limply in his arm before he came back to himself and yelled for his dad to come as he let the stranger in.

Gibbs went in and saw and well built Italian man step out from one of the adjoining rooms he figured must be his bedroom. The eldest Dinozzo stopped in shock as he saw his youngest son hanging limply in the young man's arms and he immediately went over and took the boy into his own arms and carried him into the boy's bedroom and laid him gently on the bed.

"What the hell happened to him?" Anthony shouted at the stranger and demanded to know his name.

"I'm Leroy Gibbs, your son was hit in the face before being pushed into a pond and he almost drowned, I dove after him and performed CPR" he didn't say anything about his dad's involvement because he didn't know how the man would react and didn't want to cause any trouble for his old man.

During the introduction Anthony had stripped his son of the still wet clothes so that he was clad only in his boxers, and bundled him in the blankets before addressing his older son who had been watching from the side with concern for his brother's health.

"Chris, go call a doctor" The boy turned to go when LJ reached a hand to stop him.

"No need, I told the front desk to call for a doctor and to sent him here" Anthony nodded as he sat by the side of the bed and stroked a hand through his son's damp hair. The three people watched as the boy started stirring and his green eyes slowly opened to slits

"Tonio, can you hear me?" Tony turned his head in the direction of his father's voice and leaned into the hand still in his hair.

"Dad? Wha- happened?" The youngest of the room blinked his eyes and tried to focus on the three figures he could see beside him, he knew it was his dad sitting next to him but it took him a little while to see clearly enough to identify the two others.

"Hey Chris, LJ how'd we get here?" Anthony hugged his son close as he reveled in hearing his voice after the scare of seeing him unconscious. Before anyone could say anything more there was a knock on the door and Chris went to answer it and soon came back leading an elderly doctor into the room.

"Doctor Hasting" LJ said and shook the man's hand before telling the doctor everything that had happened and the injuries Tony had received before stepping back and allowing the oldest Dinozzo to introduce himself and his sons.

"Okay, so would you like to wait outside while I complete the examination?" Anthony nodded before placing a kiss on Tony's forehead and motioned for Gibbs to follow him out of the room, but he paused before leaving "Would it be okay if my oldest son stayed with his brother?" He knew how close the boys were and his youngest had always had a slight fear of doctors so having the older boy present might ease his mind.

"Of course, as long as he wants to stay" Chris nodded enthusiastically at the doctors statement and went to sit beside his brother on the bed.

The two men left the room and Anthony motioned for LJ to sit on the couch and sat next to the younger man.

"So, I guess I owe you a thank you, I'm most grateful for everything you have done, if there's anything I can do to try to repay you then I will"

LJ brushed off the praise "I did what any good man would have done, I'm just sorry I couldn't get there earlier"

The look on Anthony's face demanded an explanation so the younger man told everything that had happened from the moment he saw the two brothers hitting Tony. By the time he was done, both men were having trouble controlling their anger, but Dinozzo more than the other man.

"How dare they do that to my son! Would it be too much for me to ask for you to talk to the police? I'd rather not leave my sons alone at the moment"

LJ nodded his agreement "Yeah, I promise to take care of it" The men stood and shook hands as the doctor exited the bedroom and came to talk to Anthony.

"I'm pleased to tell you that your son is a very lucky boy, there appears to be no lasting damage from his near death experience. He has a split lip and some bruises on his lover face. He has also sprained his ankle and so I wrapped it and I'd recommend for him to try and stay off of it as much as he can for the next week, if it doesn't get better by then, I suggest you take him to a hospital for x-rays. He has a mild fever and his lungs are sounding congested, but I've prescribed him some antibiotics and as long as he takes care of himself so he won't get pneumonia, he should be fine. If in spite of the antibiotics his cols gets worse or he experiences trouble breathing, you should get him to a hospital. Young Christopher has kindly promised to come with me to get the meds as the pharmacy is just next door so you can start the treatment immediately."

Anthony sighed in relief and shook the doctor's hand before he watched him and Chris exit the room. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to the young man who was standing next to him.

"I know you've helped more than I can ever repay, but could I ask for you to stay with him for a while as I make a call to my wife and explain everything? She will surely never forgive me if I do not call her straight away."

"It's no trouble, I'll be happy to sit with your son for a while" Anthony smiled at the youngster and excused himself so he could go and make the call.

Leroy knocked softly on the door to Tony's room before stepping in and making his way to sit on a chair next to the bed.

"Hey Tony, how are you doing?" he smiled at the boy and reached forward to ruffle his hair.

"'m fine, a bit sleepy. Thank you LJ for saving me" Tony said in a soft voice and the vulnerability in his eyes made the older man's heart constrict.

"It was my pleasure, get some rest, you're dad will be here in just a minute, he just went to make a call"

Tony sighed when LJ ran a hand through his longish hair and he leaned slightly into the caress.

"mmkay" the boy mumbled before nodding off into deep sleep.

After fifteen minutes Anthony came back from calling Celia and thanked LJ once more before the younger man left the hotel. The next day the Dinozzos left the town after Anthony decided to bury the project as he didn't want to have anything to do with the town where his youngest son was almost killed by a couple of red necks. The fact that the said red neck were facing some serious jail time didn't change Anthony's mind.

Tony was devastated at the prospect of never seeing his savior again, he had liked LJ and Jackson and didn't want to leave and never see them again. As their driver steered the car away from the little town with Tony bundled on the back seat with his father sitting next to him and Chris sitting on his other side, the boy felt confused as to why he felt so strongly about leaving behind a person he had only known for less than a day. He leaned against his father and closed his eyes, resigning to the fact that he probably wouldn't see LJ again and ignoring the way that notion made his eyes sting with unshed tears. After a while Tony fell asleep dreaming about being just like LJ, protecting innocent people and saving those that needed saving.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:Hiya folks, soo I'm here with chapter 4 in tow and I have some great news. I have gotten my wonderful beta back! I'm so happy about that. So thank you to Finlaure (and if someone didn't get it then yeah, she's the one i'm talking about ;D ) for her work on this chapter :) and as always, any remaining mistakes are mine, 'cause lets face it, I'm the one who put them there...**_

Detective Anthony DiNozzo grimaced as he looked down at the battered, nude corpse laying on the ground before him. He hated cases like this. The poor guy, well really a kid, had his whole body covered with cuts and bruises, his unseeing eyes staring at nothing and one word written in blood on his chest. Tony looked at the crimson letters that spelled 'fagot' on the pale skin and turned away to address the people with him.

"Anyone call NCIS?" he yelled at the officers observing the scene as he took a closer look at the chain around the young man's neck that had his dog tags hanging from it.

"Called as soon as I noticed the tags," One of the officers answered a bit snidely.

Tony had to turn away to hide his disgust at the fact that all of his colleagues looked extremely pleased about the fact that they wouldn't have to try and bring justice for this guy. Most of them felt homosexuals didn't deserve their time and effort. After all there was no love lost towards gay men on the force and that was a notion the young detective could relate to all too well. Tony felt sadness well up inside him along with the disgust. He had known for a long time that he swung both ways but had never felt the need to talk to anyone about it.

It didn't help any that his brother Chris was the perfect Italian boy. He had not only followed their dad into the family business. He had married a wonderful Italian woman. They had two kids and one on the way.

He knew that both his parents were eagerly waiting for Tony to settle down with a good girl and start making grand children for them also. So he never had the courage to tell them that there was a possibility that would never happen.

Tony was the son that had never cared for the business. He had gone into police academy, causing worry for his parents because of the dangers of the job. Every time his dad asked him if he was seeing anyone special, the youngest DiNozzo felt a pang at the look of disappointment on his dad's face when the answer was no. He didn't dare to add to that disappointment by telling his father that his interests included men so even if there was a special someone it probably wouldn't be approved by his parents.

Tony shook his head and turned to concentrate on the crime scene. He looked around and saw the other cop's had gone to the very edge of the perimeter and were watching from there. He sighed as he carefully looked around to see if there was anything urgent he needed to check. He had never told anyone he was bi-sexual, but it didn't mean that people never got wind of it. That was the reason he was working the scene alone until the NCIS guys would come and either try to steal the case, which Tony wasn't about to let happen, or gave him help with the work.

Tony noticed footprints next to the victim and followed the prints to see where they led. He kept a close eye on his surroundings as he noticed the footsteps leaving the scene, only hesitating for a second before he followed them to a small shed. It was almost next to the scene, but hidden behind some trees and bushes so it was almost impossible to detect if you merely glanced in that direction but didn't take a closer look.

DiNozzo pulled out his gun and carefully inched closer to the shed, he heard what sounded like shouting coming from the direction he had come from, but he tuned it out and instead went to a small window that he thought would give him a good look into the building. He peered in, but didn't see anything as the glass was blackened with something. Tony crept to the door and carefully eased it open, all the while holding his gun in front of him, ready for action.

He contemplated calling for backup, but he knew no one really cared enough to come watch his back. The only allies he had in the force had been called to another scene early that morning and weren't finished with it yet. Tony took a deep breath as he crept into the small shed and looked around. There really wasn't anything interesting in the shed and after one last glance he went back the way he had come.

The detective had just come into full view of the crime scene and watched as a silver haired man shouted at one of the officers. His other fellow officers were already getting in their cars and driving off. He looked at a somewhat elderly man who was crouching next to the body with a young black man standing behind him. Another a bit younger NCIS man had started taking pictures of the victim.

"Well, where the hell is this DiNozzo guy!" Tony could hear the angry words coming from the man with the silver hair. He assumed this must be the NCIS agent in charge and was about to shout and make his presence known.

Tony heard a sudden rustling from behind. The young detective turned while moving to draw his weapon again, but before he could get his gun out he saw a bird take flight just a few feet from him. He relaxed his stance and took his hand off his gun. He sighed and turned back to walk back to the crime scene and deal with the pissed off NCIS guy.

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Okay so I was thinking of posting this chapter tomorrow, but my wonderful beta Finlaure was faster than light with her work on this chapter and I was so happy with the things she did to it that I just have to share this :) Thank you so much to her for her work and thank you to everyone who reviewed :) **_

Gibbs arrived at the scene in Baltimore with Chris Pacci. Agent Pacci was working with the older man until a new team could be put together to replace the one that fell apart after the only permanent member left for an agent afloat position.

Jethro had been in a bad mood for the whole day and driving the long way to Baltimore to deal with the local law enforcement officers wasn't his idea of fun on a good day. The thing that made his mood even worse was the fact that the lead detective was some young show off named DiNozzo and the name tickled something inside his mind, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Gibbs took in the scene and bristled as he saw all the cops just standing by and drinking coffee or talking to each other, but not one of them was making an effort to bring a killer to justice. He quickly exited the car and with Pacci following closely he made his way towards the man that looked most like he might be in charge of this clusterfuck.

"Agents Gibbs and Pacci, NCIS. What have you got?" Jethro almost hit the guy when the answer was a careless shrug of the man's shoulders and a wave towards the scene.

"Hell if I know, we called you as soon as we saw the dog tags and Detective DiNozzo is the guy in charge." Gibbs didn't miss the disgust in the man's voice when he said the lead detective's name.

"Now that you're here, we'll get going and leave you to handle this with DiNozzo." The man turned to go the way the others had already gone to their cars when the irritated voice of the NCIS agent stopped him. "Well, where the hell is this DiNozzo guy!"

The man who was now sporting a bored expression looked around before pointing towards a man who was coming towards them from the other side of the scene.

"Here comes the queen," The words were softly murmured, but both NCIS agents caught the words and glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, "There he is so now if you'll excuse me," with that the officer took his leave and left the two NCIS agents to their own devices.

Gibbs couldn't give a shit of the other officer and barely noticed as he left as his eyes were on the man approaching them. There was something eerily familiar about the man, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was.

That was until the guy was close enough for Gibbs to see the brilliant green eyes. Jethro had only seen eyes as green and beautiful once before and if he had any doubts about the identity of the man they evaporated when the guy opened his mouth.

"You're the NCIS guys right? I'm Detective Anthony DiNozzo, but you can call me Tony. I'm the guy you're gonna be working with for the foreseeable future."

Pacci snorted at the kid's enthusiasm and waited for Gibbs to strike him down, smirking as the older man's eyes got a small predatory gleam and a shark grin appeared on his lips.

"And what makes you think we won't just take the scene and leave you here to mind your own business?" Jethro questioned the young detective as he looked him up and down and decided that Tony looked good, damn good in fact.

DiNozzo narrowed his eyes as he tried to place the familiar blue eyes that were looking at him, but he decided to let it go for now and ponder it later.

"Well you see here's the deal. We're on my turf and seeing as there's only two of you you'll probably need the help. But the most important thing is I won't let this case go because seeing as the motive seems at first glance to be the Marine's sexual orientation I'm guessing the people who did this aren't new at this and probably won't stop with just one kill." He flashed a winning smile to seal the deal.

Gibbs gazed intently at the man before him and decided that there wasn't any hint of recognition in the kid's eyes so he probably didn't remember him. He felt a small flash of disappointment at the notion, but pushed it down and intensified his glare a bit, impressed when the kid didn't back down an inch.

"Fine, but it's my lead and you'd better follow my orders to the letter. I'm Special Agent Gibbs and this is Agent Pacci." He watched if the name would spark the younger man's memory, but was again disappointed when only reaction was the widening of Tony's grin.

"You can call me Chris." Pacci said as he stopped taking pictures long enough to reach and shake the Detective's hand.

"Really? I have a brother named Chris." Tony grinned as he shook the man's hand before turning back to Gibbs.

"Well since that's settled, why don't I show you the scene and tell you everything I know. I trust that is your ME looking the body?" Tony said as he walked with the two agents to the body.

"Well hello, you must be with the Baltimore PD, I'm Doctor Donald Mallard. I am the Medical Examiner for the NCIS, but you may call me Ducky like everyone else." He introduced himself as he stood up to shake the younger man's hand.

"Detective Anthony DiNozzo, Tony." He said as he avoided shaking the bloody glove covered hand.

Ducky nodded his head and moved to take a closer look at the body.

"Oh dear," He crouched back down next to the corpse and rooted around in his bag until he found the liver probe which he inserted into the body.

Gibbs was staring at the body, his mouth was closed into a tight line and his eyes were spitting fire as he noticed the degrading term painted on the bare chest and the bruising that seemed to cover the entire crotch area of the victim. His thoughts were interrupted when Ducky called the time of death.

"It seems that this poor fella died sometime between the midnight and two o'clock at night. The cause of death seems to be a blunt force trauma to the head, but I'll know more once I get him home. Jethro, there also seems to be evidence of a sexual assault though I have to confirm it after I run a kit."

Gibbs swore under his breath then said out loud, "Okay thanks Duck." He left the ME and his assistant to take care of the body as he turned back to DiNozzo.

"What have you got?"

"Well not much Agent Gibbs, The victim is Petty Officer Josh Boyson. He was found here by a jogger who likes to run here every morning. I interviewed her, but she didn't see anything and didn't touch anything once she saw the body. We found the victim's wallet next to him and I bagged and tagged it, but haven't gone through it yet other than to verify the identity. There are footprints leading away from the scene into a small shed behind those trees, but it's empty."

Gibbs and Pacci listened intently and nodded as they processed the small amount of information.

"Okay, Pacci shoot and sketch, DiNozzo bag and tag, let's get this scene processed so we can take the evidence back to the lab."

It didn't take them long to process the crime scene as there was really nothing there apart from some pieces of trash and a few cigarette stumps, and the body which was safely being transported back to naval yard by Ducky and Gerald, his assistant.

Tony had told them that Baltimore PD's lab was at their disposal and so was the ME, but with the amount of crimes committed in the city, both the lab and medical examiner were swamped with work. This didn't really bother Gibbs as he had intended to have Abby run all the evidence anyway and he wouldn't have trusted the body into anyone else's hands but his old friend's.

The three men left for the Navy yard with Gibbs behind the wheel and Tony sitting in the front passenger's seat and Pacci occupying the backseat.

"So Tony, how long have you been in Baltimore?" Pacci asked to break the silence of the car.

"A few years now, was in Peoria and Philly before came here. Think it's getting high time I got out of dodge again," The last part Tony said under his breath, not expecting Gibbs or the other agent to hear the softly spoken words, but both did anyway. "What about you two, been with NCIS long?" DiNozzo steered the conversation to safer waters for him.

"Longer than I want to admit," Pacci said with a smile, deciding to let the previous line of thought go. "I'm playing sidekick for Gibbs until he can form a new team to replace the old and I get to gather my very first own team." There was a proud smile on the man's face as he thought of the fact that soon he would have his own team after years of being second in command.

"Wow, congratulations man, sounds great. So Gibbs what about you?" Tony turned to look at the silver haired man and took in the serious face and slightly narrowed eyes. The man was great looking and all, but DiNozzo would bet a lot that if the man would just give a smile he would be damn near irresistible. It still bothered Tony that there was something so familiar about the man and he couldn't place him, and the name tickled something in his mind, but again he came up empty handed when he thought about it.

He shook his head to push away such thoughts and he narrowed his eyes slightly as the man failed to answer the question.

"Oh C'mon Gibbs, give me something here." When the man just stared straight ahead and didn't say a word Tony took that as a challenge and kept talking, "Fine, well considering the high and tight hair cut I'd venture that you are or were a Marine, probably ex-Marine." He gazed out of the side window as he rambled but his words were cut off when he felt a smack on the back of his head and a snicker came from the backseat.

"There's no such thing as Ex-Marine, DiNozzo" Gibbs said as if he hadn't just smacked the unsuspecting Detective's head.

"Not according to the haircut there aren't." Tony muttered, the snort Pacci tried to hide with a cough confirming that the agents had heard the statement, but what caused Tony to grin widely was the fact that he could see Gibbs' lips twitch with an effort not to smile.

When they got to the Navy Yard Gibbs ordered Chris to take the evidence down to Abby and help her while he and Tony went to the bullpen to dig out information on the dead Petty Officer.

After two hours both Chris and Abby exited the elevator, with Abby running as fast as her booted legs would carry her to her favorite NCIS agent.

"Gibbs!" She launched herself at the older man and wrapped her arms around him so they were hugging tightly before planting herself into the older man's lap.

"You'll never believe what we found Bossman-" She stopped her words as she caught sight of the detective Chris had told her about and she got up and made her way towards the stranger.

"Hi, I'm Abby Scuito. You must be the Baltimore cop." She smiled at the new guy and gave him a quick hug but pulled away quickly as if burned when he introduced himself.

"Detective Tony DiNozzo at your service," He was surprised when the girl glared at him coldly.

"DiNozzo? As in one of the DiNozzo's from Long Island? The son of Anthony DiNozzo?" Tony tensed as Abby talked, he knew what was coming.

"I don't like you. You're just another rich kid who's playing with daddy's money," She turned back to Gibbs to tell him her findings, missing the look of hurt her words had caused to surface on Tony's face.

"There isn't much to find on the few things you brought me, but I managed to find a finger print on the dog tags that didn't belong to our Petty Officer. I'm running it through AFIS as we speak."

Pacci took over the explanation from there, "I went through the guy's wallet and found receipts from a club called The Strip from last night."

Everyone turned around when Tony spoke quietly from the desk he had been occupying, "The Strip is a new gay club in Baltimore. I looked through our Petty Officers files and there's nothing to indicate a motive for the killing. There have been a few muggings at The Strip since it opened a few months back, but no one has been killed and none of the cops want to investigate. But I looked into it a week ago when one of the victims was put in intensive care. He told me that there are two attackers who like to go for younger men. They beat them up, but they do tend to choose military type looking men."

"So what would have changed now? Why kill this one?" Gibbs asked as he contemplated that this was their only lead so far.

"The military branch. The previous victims were either police or plain civilians, but the previous guy who they put in the hospital was Army, and now they killed a Petty Officer."

Jethro nodded his head and after sending Abby back to her lab to wait for the results he ordered Pacci to contact the club's owner and ask him some questions and to check on the muggings.

"DiNozzo you're with me." Gibbs ordered as he strode into the elevator.

"Where're we going?" Tony asked the older man, but there wasn't the enthusiasm in his voice there used to be.

"To see if Ducky has finished with the autopsy."

They rode the elevator in silence until they reached the correct floor and made their way through the autopsy doors and into the morgue.

Ducky was just finishing up with the autopsy when the men walked in and he looked up from where he was suturing the last of the stitches to close the Petty Officer's chest.

"Excellent timing Jethro and good to see you again Anthony." Tony grinned when he heard the first name of the gruff Marine.

"Your first name is Jethro?" His smirk widened when Gibbs glared at him, but before either could say anything Ducky continued.

"Yes well not many people in this modern day and age have a name like that. Why, Leroy Jethro Gibbs is quite unique name and I wonder why you choose to-"

Tony didn't hear the rest of the ME's words as he locked eyes with Gibbs and made the connection Jethro had made as soon as they had met earlier that day. He had thought of the young man that had saved him in the past, but never thought that he would see him again.

"Leroy- LJ," Tony shook his head to clear his mind and pushed the feelings of that realization to the back of his mind and concentrated back to the present as he noticed that Gibbs and Ducky were talking.

"Yes, as I said at the scene the cause of death is a blunt force trauma to the head. From the bruises and marks on his body I would deduce that he was hit repeatedly with a bat or stick of some kind. I also fear that the rape kit came back positive and there is evidence of repeated sexual violation. The assaulter doesn't seem to have bothered with using protection so I sent all samples to Abigail."

"Was all of it done before death?" Gibbs asked in a carefully controlled tone

"I'm afraid so. There doesn't appear to be any sign of the victim being drugged and if the blood samples I sent to Abigail confirms that there are no drugs in his bloodstream, then I would have to say he was not only alive but aware of everything done to him."

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hiya folks! It snowed! It's kinda funny when you look outside as some trees still have leaves on them and now they have a layer of snow as well... Not to mention the fact that the snow kinda took everyone by surprise and our exchange students are a bit lost and are walking around wearing shorts and t-shirts and complaining that it's cold... I think we need to have a talk with them sooner rather than later about how to dress properly in winter... Anyways thank you to everyone who is still reading this fic and to my wonderful beta Finlaure, I promise to learn new adjectives so I can properly describe just how awesome you are and as always (though I always forget to mention it) thank you to Donttouch for making me write this fic XD (yeah yeah, you write 'challenge for all you writers...' and I read 'esprit you have got to write this' ;D ) And now I shall shut my trap and go do something productive like writing the sequel to this and the next chapter for my kid!Tony story... Or go do little snow men as there really isn't enough of the stuff to do big ones ;) See ya! **_

Gibbs, DiNozzo and Pacci worked the case for almost two days with no new leads. The fingerprints as well as the DNA samples from the semen were a dead end as they couldn't find a match in any of the data bases.

It was now 11 pm on day two of the investigation and just an hour before Gibbs had let the others head out to get some rest. Tony hadn't bothered to drive back to Baltimore so he booked a room in a small motel a few miles away from the Naval Yard. He grimaced as he looked at the dirty walls and floor. He hadn't had the energy to find a more upscale hotel with available rooms. Since there was a big conference of some kind in DC just a block from the NCIS headquarters, it was a safe bet that all rooms in vicinity were long since booked.

He lay on the bed in the room and thought about the day. Tony had avoided talking to the older man after he had realized the connection between this Gibbs and his savior from years back. He decided to wait until the case was over before he brought it up, and seriously it wasn't likely that the other man even remembered him anymore. After all he had been just a scrawny kid back then and any meaning their meeting might have had was most likely felt by only him.

He stared at the ceiling as if the boring pattern staring back at him could give him some answers. He closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep when he heard the unmistakable sound of his cell phone ringing in the pocket of his jeans.

He groaned and fumbled a bit as he dug in his pocket to find the strangely elusive piece of modern technology. He almost cried in triumph as his fingers closed around the device and he had to concede to himself that he must be more tired than he thought.

"DiNozzo?"

There was a snicker before a male voice spoke in his ear and Tony couldn't help but smile as he heard the sound of one of the few cops in Baltimore who were still on his side.

"_Are you asking or telling?" _The grin was clearly audible in the man's voice, _"If you wanna be sure then dig up your wallet and check the drivers license." _

"Very funny wise ass. Tell me Dan, did you just call me to harass me or did you have something worth saying?" The silence that followed had Tony sitting up and more alert than before.

"What's up Dan?" There was a sigh before the other man spoke.

"_I heard a few guys talking at the station, almost a week ago there was another guy attacked near 'The Strip' This one had some injuries but nothing life threatening, seems that someone walked in on two guys beating him and trying to-" _Dan took a deep breath before continuing,_ "Anyway the one interrupting the attack got a good look at the men and I send the description to your e-mail. Listen, Tony I know you know about the other attacks, but I dug around a bit and found a pattern. Seems that the guys go after Army type guys that are alone and looking for company, one of them flirts with the victim and then gets him to go with him. Now the thing you might not know is that they appear to be doing this twice a week, luckily they have killed only one, but I'm guessing it's not gonna stay that way." _

"Days?" Dan had no trouble understanding the one word question.

"_Wednesday and Friday mostly, there have been two Tuesday attacks and the most recent which was on Saturday." _

Tony rubbed a hand over his face, "Tuesday's tomorrow."

"_I know man, that's why I thought you should know right away. I've gotta go, I have my own investigation to run. Be careful man and watch your back, some guys around here aren't overly happy with you jumping ship and going with the feds." _

Tony let out a forced laugh, "Like they would have been any happier if I had been there," He heard the answering sigh from the other end of the line, "I'll be careful, but I need you to do the same. Thanks Dan."

"_No problem man, Smell ya later." With that the line went dead and Tony couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's standard departing words. _

"I need to confiscate your Simpson's collection." Tony muttered under his breath as he pressed speed dial six where he had put Gibbs' number. He winched a bit at the barked greeting from the other end and told the man they might have something. After being told to be at the NCIS in twenty minutes he got up and took the quickest shower of his life before heading back to work.

'No rest for the wicked' he thought as he started his car and headed to the Navy Yard.

Tony stopped on his way in to get a cup of decent coffee from an all night diner and decided to buy coffee and breakfast for the others as well.

He was a minute early when he entered the bullpen, but already Pacci and Gibbs were sitting behind their desks waiting for him to come in so he dipped his head in greeting and passed the coffees to his temporary co-workers.

Chris nodded his thanks as he took the cup of coffee and the team leader just grunted as he was given the hot cup.

"So what do you have DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked out when Tony didn't immediately start giving information.

"Okay so I got a call from Dan Myers who is a Detective in Baltimore. He gave me some information on the previous attacks, and it seems that the preps have established a pattern to find victims twice almost every week. The days appear to be Wednesday and Friday, but sometimes they switch Wednesdays to Tuesdays."

Gibbs cursed under his breath as he looked at his clock and realized the significance of the days, "And Tuesday just started."

"Yeah," Tony agreed he had sat down at the desk he had been occupying for the duration of the investigation and checked his e-mail, "But now we have a description. Seems that there was an attack before this one that got interrupted, the guy who walked in on them got a look at the perps and Dan sent me the description." He scrolled through the info before sighing.

"We're looking for pretty ordinary men, good looking, one has dark hair the other has sandy. Both were dressed in all black and there isn't much else." He narrowed his eyes in concentration as his tired eyes tried to make sense of the words on the screen, "The guy saw light reflect from a ring the other guy was wearing and same for an earring, the victim confirmed that the guy he met at the bar had some jewelry, but refused to say anything else."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he saw the thoughtful look on the detective's face, but didn't say anything but waited for the man to speak.

"You know, we really have nothing on these guys, seeing as its Tuesday and it's likely that they will pick their next victim tonight or tomorrow night, it would be best to send someone undercover."

Now Tony was getting excited and his tiredness was forgotten. He loved undercover work and he knew he was good at it. He didn't let the hesitation he was feeling for going under in a gay club slow him down any.

Gibbs looked at Pacci who shrugged his shoulders, "You any good with that kind of stuff DiNozzo?" Jethro knew if someone went it would be Tony as he was the most likely to attract the killer's attention, but he didn't like the notion of not only putting the man in risk, but putting him in a position where he would have to flirt with other men. He ignored the thoughts that arose with that line of thinking and locked eyes with the younger man waiting for the answer.

"Any good? I'm the best. I'm the master of undercover work. How'd you think I got to be a detective so fast?" Tony grinned at the two agents and waggled his eyebrows a bit.

Gibbs just snorted. He knew exactly how the younger man had gotten to the rank of detective as he had asked Pacci to get DiNozzo's file so he could see how good the kid was with the job.

"Fine, we'll head back to Baltimore later today to get some more backup for the evening, I want Pacci to go in the club to keep an eye on things and another NCIS agent to accompany me in the van along with our technician, but we need at least two cops on standby in case we need them. Tony, go down to Abby as soon as she arrives and get whatever wires you need from her, the techs can put them on when we're ready to roll."

Pacci groaned at the prospect of spending at least one night in a club looking for the killers as Tony practically vibrated at the same prospect.

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hiya I'm here again :) I'm gonna keep this brief and only say thanks to everyone who has reviewed or put this fic on alert (I'm continuously blown away by the amount of people reading this fic) and of course thank you to my spectacular splendid terrific super-duper splendiferous awesome beta Finlaure! (and thanks to Google translator for the adjectives XD )**_

The three men worked for hours to make sure they had every detail perfect for the evening. Gibbs worked with Abby to create a cover for Tony as the younger man didn't dare to enter her lair after their first meeting that didn't go so well, and for once Gibbs decided to go easy on someone instead of telling the detective to just suck it up. And besides it was mostly a formality since it was highly unlikely for the perps to do a thorough check of their victim.

After everything was ready the three headed to Baltimore with enough time so they could check with the cops assigned to them for the duration of the undercover operation and for Tony to go home and get changed. Gibbs wasn't impressed with the rookies he was assigned with and everyone at the station heard it as the NCIS lead agent made his displeasure known to DiNozzo's chief.

Pacci was sitting outside the office where the shouting match had been going strong for almost an hour and he smirked as he thought of how sorry DiNozzo would be that he missed all the fireworks since the younger man had gone home to get changed.

Chris jumped a bit when the door to the office opened and Gibbs stormed out and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Good meeting?" Chris asked with a neutral tone as he followed his temporary team leader as they descended the stairs from the big shots office.

Jethro just shot him one of his death glares and continued on his way until he reached Tony's desk.

"Where the hell is he? How long can it take to put on some clothes?" Gibbs fumed as he paced in front of the desk as Pacci took the seat behind it.

"Well Agent Gibbs, Perfection takes time," said a voice from behind the older man and he turned to bite Tony's head off but stopped short as he took a look at the younger man.

DiNozzo had really put an effort to make sure the killer wouldn't be able to resist him. He was wearing black jeans that were sinfully tight and hugged his hips and ass as if it was his second skin. He had on a dark green t-shirt that showed off his toned chest and arms. As an icing on the very attractive cake, he had lined his eyes with black, which highlighted his already gorgeous eyes and the dog tags he had on completed the look.

"So did I pass muster?" Tony asked, completely obvious of the hungry eyes of the Marine watching him closely.

Pacci whistled approvingly and leered at the man, causing him to roll his eyes at the show of good humor.

"Oh you just wait Chrissy boy, I have something for you too." Tony winked at the NCIS agent who now had a rather horrified look on his face.

"Me? Why me?"

"Well I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you're not exactly dressed for the club," he gave a pointed look at the tie hanging around the other man's neck.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my clothes." Chris said with a frown.

"You're absolutely right, there would be nothing wrong with your clothes if we were going out on our first date and you'd be taking me to a restaurant for dinner, but we're going clubbing. So stop whining and put the shirt on I brought you." He tossed a bag at Pacci and watched satisfied as the man changed the shirt and took off the tie pointedly ignoring the grumbling that accompanied the changing process.

He was still smirking when he turned to Gibbs who had had enough time to pull himself together during the clothing debate and was now glaring at the two men.

"You two about ready to go?" He said with an impatient voice.

"All done sahib," Tony said and gave a small mock bow before following the older man and the other NCIS agent out of the station.

Tony took his own car and drove to the club, he was aware of the NCIS van following him a few cars back, but he ignored the fact for the most part, but the fact that Gibbs was in the car made a small shiver race up his spine.

He had worked alongside the man for the past few days and after realizing the past connection between them, it had been hard to work with the man without talking to him about it. He had been eleven at the time when he first met the man and he had saved his life. Tony had been young, but he had felt like there was something special about the young man who saved him, and now that he saw Gibbs again he realized that whatever it had been back then, now he was very attracted to the NCIS agent.

DiNozzo shook his head as he saw the club and he parked the car before exciting it. He surveyed the parking lot and heard a crackle in his ear from the ear wig as it came to life.

"_You hear me DiNozzo?" Came Gibbs gruff voice and he gave the signal they had agreed on to verify that he was indeed hearing everything loud and clear so he ran a hand through his hair and smiled as he heard Gibbs and Pacci conversing to one another through the wires about the fact that only DiNozzo would have such an signal_.

Tony walked calmly to the entrance to the club and nodded to the bouncer who ran his eyes up and down his body before letting him in with a leer. DiNozzo just smiled at him and gave a small wink as he slid past the man who gave his jean clad ass a small pat.

Tony could hear Gibbs growl in his ear, but didn't bother to try and decipher what had pissed the man off, after all, right now he was Tony Morelli, an honorably discharged marine looking for a good time and Morelli didn't care what had caused the growl. He made his way straight for the bar and ordered a drink, but making sure it was of the non alcoholic variety. He nodded his thanks to the bartender when the drink was placed in front of him. He paid and turned to look around the bar.

He wasn't surprised to see the club was full and a lot of people were crowding the dance floor. The news of the attacks was no secret and instead of having the effect that people stayed away, it did the exact opposite. The men dancing and hanging out around the club were there to prove that a bunch of homophobes won't push them into a back of a closet.

DiNozzo leaned against the bar and took a sip of his drink. He started when he felt a hand on his shoulder and cursed himself for getting caught up in watching the clubbers and neglecting to watch his back.

"Whoa, Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just going to see if you'd be up for a dance."

Tony looked at the good looking man standing with his hands up in a placating gesture. The man had short black hair and no jewelry.

"Just got a bit lost in thought," Tony explained with a sheepish grin and did his best to keep the cringe out of his face as he heard Gibbs chastise his laps in attention, "And a dance sounds good." The man grinned as he placed a hand in the small of the other man's back and led him to the dance floor. The Detective was completely oblivious to the fact that in the van a certain NCIS agent was gritting his teeth as he thought of the guy touching the young detective.

Tony let himself get lost in the music to a certain extent, but this time made sure to keep a close watch on his surroundings. He felt the guy slide his hands over his ass and he mentally shrugged and let the man bring their bodies closer and moved to the music.

They danced for a few songs before Tony extracted himself and motioned towards the bar, the guy nodded but didn't follow him off the dance floor but instead got together with some other man. It didn't matter that DiNozzo didn't actually want the man to follow him, but still the fact that he had been replaced so easily was a blow to his ego, so by the time he was at the bar he was pouting a bit.

He ordered another drink and sat for a few minutes. He had a few other men come and talk to him, they bought him drinks and they danced but there was no sign of anyone matching the description of the kidnapper.

"_Let's give it another hour before calling it a night." Gibbs said as it was already past midnight and there had been nothing to indicate that the bait would be taken tonight. _

Tony was again sitting by the bar, but had this time ordered a root beer and was now sipping it as he again surveyed the club.

"Well aren't you a spoil sport, drinking root beer and all." Tony had seen the sandy haired man sit next to him by the bar so he wasn't startled as the man spoke.

"Nah, just taking a break is all." DiNozzo grinned as he looked the man up and down, noticing the lack of earrings or any other jewelry. He almost sighed in disappointment, but held the reaction back and kept the grin going.

"Ah, yes, a pretty boy like you has had a lot of men falling all over themselves to get a dance and a grope," There was a smile on the guy's face and the words didn't have any sting in them, "Name's Jack." The man said while offering his hand.

"Tony." the Detective took the hand and gave it a shake before sitting back with his beer.

"So, you're a Marine I take it?" Jack said indicating the dog tags that were hanging from his companion's neck.

"Well technically not anymore, but you know what they say."

"Once a Marine always a Marine," Jack said with a laugh, "Yeah I know, was a Marine too, got discharged though," There was a flash of anger and pain in the man's eyes at that, but it was soon replaced by a smile, "So Tony, you want to dance?"

DiNozzo thought about it and accepted the offer do the two men made their way to the dance floor where they let the rhythm of the music set the pace. They rubbed against each other and Tony frowned a bit when after a few songs the guy started to get a bit more hands on than he would have liked so he politely tried to keep a short distance between them, but it was hard with the way they were moving to the music.

His frown deepened when the guy took a small flask from his pocket and with a smirk opened the cap and took a mouthful of the liquid. DiNozzo didn't have much time to think before Jack grabbed his head and pressed his mouth over his. Tony struggled as he felt the liquid being pushed into his mouth along with the guy's tongue and he tried to spit it away, but there was nothing he could do but to let it trickle down his throat.

Jack continued the kiss even after all of the drink was gone and Tony was starting to get light headed from the lack of air. He was finally released and he swayed slightly and looked at Jack with a shocked expression.

" What was that?" there was a slight slur to his words as the lack of oxygen and whatever was in the flask started to take effect.

"_Pacci what's going on with DiNozzo?"_

"_Don't know I lost visual, last I saw him he was dancing with one of the guys." _

" _Well re-establish it damn it!" _Tony blinked in confusion at the voices in his head before he realized it was the NCIS agents communicating through the ear pieces.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked with a concerned tone as Tony swayed a bit more, "C'mon let's get you outside so you'll get a bit of air." DiNozzo just nodded knowing that as soon as they got out from the front door, Gibbs would be there to watch his back. He didn't even realize they were headed for the back exit before they were already in a back alley behind the club.

Tony tried to focus on his surroundings but found it harder than normal and his fuzzy brain had a hard time trying to keep up with what was happening. He leaned against the man that was standing next to him as his legs felt like Jell-O.

He looked up when there were footsteps and Tony almost cried with relief at the thought that Gibbs was there and would make everything right, but instead he saw a dark haired man emerge from the shadows and he swallowed hard at the glint of an earring that caught his eye.

"Well I see it paid off to let you pick tonight," the man said as he stepped closer to them and took a hold of Tony's chin. "This one's pretty all right" the new man said with a leer.

"Yep and a Marine. Think the guy needs to be thought a lesson for soiling the good name of US Marine Core with his extracurricular activities."

Jack said as he pushed Tony away from him and both men smirked as the man fell to the ground like a sack of bricks.

"You give him the new drug?"The jewelry guy asked

"And a good dose at that. In a few minutes he won't be able to move a muscle."

Tony was desperately trying to get up from the ground but couldn't make his limbs to do what he wanted them to do. He heard through his ear piece how Gibbs directed the men to search for him after they realized they weren't heading for the front exit. He knew it wouldn't take long for them to figure out where they were, but Tony wanted to make sure the guys wouldn't get a chance to bolt before they were taken in, but there wasn't much he could do.

"So, you wanna do this here or move to a more comfortable location?" The dark haired man said with a leer and a wicked grin which widened when the other man moved to Tony and kicked his ribs hard.

"I like this place just fine for now." both men were now looming over the man they had drugged and the taller of the two who happened to be the one with the earring pulled Tony up and held him firmly with an arm around his throat.

The shorter guy grinned wickedly and came forward to place a kiss to Tony's cheek before winking to the other man and looking around. He spotted a piece of a pipe lying near the wall and got it before he used the pipe to beat their victim.

Tony grunted with each impact and he gave a small yelp when he felt one of his ribs give out from one of the hits. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the pain, but the hold the other guy had on his throat was making it difficult to get a decent breath into his body.

He suddenly heard someone shouting and found he was falling to the ground before his mind went black.

TBC...


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Yay chapter eight is here :) Thank you for everyone who reviewed and thank you to my wonderful beta who did wonders to this chapter. (Finlaure added some lines and stuff on this chapter so she gets credit for those parts :) ) **_

_Beta's note for the readers – Sorry for leaving ya'll on the cliff edge for so long, I've been ill. And just a Big warning for some language in this chapter that is very derogatory toward homosexuals. Not my personal thoughts or beliefs. It is there for the angst and the feelings they provoke for Gibbs._

It hadn't taken Gibbs long to realize that Tony and this Jack guy weren't coming out of the front door. They had searched the club and upon finding nothing, they moved through the crowded place and to the back door where the older NCIS agent motioned for Pacci to cover him as he counted down from three before opening the door.

He froze for just a second as he caught sight of Tony hanging limply from one guy's hold as the other laid a beating on him with some kind of pipe, but the hesitation was so small no one noticed it, "Federal agents drop your weapon and step away from the man."

"We're doing the military a favor by cleanin' up this fag shit."The dark haired man let go of Tony and Jethro's heart skipped a beat when the detective's body hit the ground, but he kept his gun trained on the two criminals, "Hope he dies like those other queers."

"You guy's should be given us medal's for getting his candy ass kind out of the regs." The sandy haired man moved to spit on Tony but Gibbs swiftly grabbed his arm and pushed him hard against the wall.

"That _Man_ is an undercover cop and you two have just talked yourselves into a world of trouble." Gibbs motioned for Pacci to cuff the guys and read them their rights. The NCIS agent then motioned to the two Baltimore PD cops who had been assigned to them to get the guys into their car and to the station. And out of his sight before he decided to give them a taste of what they had done to DiNozzo.

After he saw the cops leading away the two men, he turned his attention to the man lying on the ground and to Pacci who was kneeling next to him, trying to rouse the unconscious man. With two long strides Gibbs was kneeling on Tony's other side and was feeling for his pulse which was a bit too fast, but strong. He gently raised the detective and held Tony in his arms.

"Ambulance is on its way." Pacci reported as he looked at his temporary team leader who was staring at the Baltimore detective with a look of concern and worry in his eyes, and a fleeting glance of something more.

"DiNozzo, I don't keep saving your ass just so you can lie on the job!" Gibbs said and was rewarded with Tony's eyes fluttering open and the younger man muttering something that wasn't quite audible enough to be heard by the NCIS agents.

"What was that DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, trying to get the man to stay awake as they had no idea what the idiots had used to drug the man with and as long as they didn't know all the effects, it would be safer for DiNozzo to stay awake.

"You remember my ass?" Tony whispered with a slight slur in his voice, not daring to believe that the older man remembered him after all this time.

"Well of course I remember. How could I forget an ass like that?" Gibbs was smirking at the questioning look at Pacci's face at the exchange but he couldn't care less, especially as he heard DiNozzo snicker about just how fine an ass he had. Gibbs was a little shocked at what he had said also, but he knew he meant it.

It took only a few more minutes for an ambulance to arrive. As the medics loaded DiNozzo in Gibbs turned to Chris and ordered him to go with the man and to watch his six until he could get to the hospital. He wanted to be the one to go with the young man, but knew he had to do his job as the lead agent on the case first.

Jethro watched as the other agent nodded and hopped into the back of the ambulance before it sped off. The older man ran a hand through his hair before calling the captain of the Baltimore PD to send someone to process the scene. He knew the case was air tight and even the most stupid cops couldn't mess it up so he didn't feel bad for leaving this part of the job to the local cops. Besides he didn't care about who got the credit for the case now, and he knew the captain would be pleased to get positive publicity this case would bring. Gibbs wanted something from the captain, so he thought that giving the credit to them would be worth it in the long run. And what he wanted was DiNozzo.

Gibbs waited for the cops to arrive and gave them his statement before leaving to go to the nearest hospital where he knew they had taken Tony.

It took him longer than he would have liked to find the hospital, but it still took him only half an hour to get there. He parked the car and walked into the hospital where he headed straight for the ER waiting room where he knew he would find his fellow NCIS agent. He saw Pacci sitting on one of the ugly green chairs and barked for the man to report.

"Detective DiNozzo has a mild concussion, three broken ribs they had to wrap and a lot of bruises. They took a blood sample but haven't gotten the results yet, but they're almost certain the drug is a new variation from the date rape drug, that leaves the victim completely unable to move, but doesn't render them unconscious or cause memory loss."

Gibbs nodded his head before he started pacing the floor of the room. They waited for almost half an hour before a young male doctor entered and looked between the two agents.

"Are you here with Detective DiNozzo?"

As both men nodded and introduced themselves the doctor continued. "I'm Doctor Johnson I'm the one in charge of Officer's DiNozzo's treatment. He had three broken ribs which we wrapped. He also has a mild concussion and extensive bruising mostly on his chest area. The drug he was give has been identified as we had a good guess of what we might be dealing with and it narrowed down the search. The drug relaxes the muscles so a person wouldn't be able to move on their own once it has been administered. The good news is that there should be no lasting effects. We're going to admit Officer DiNozzo for the rest of the night so we can use IV's to flush his system, but I see no reason why he shouldn't be released later today. We're moving him to a room in a few minutes. If you'd like to see him then I will send a nurse down to get you once he is settled, but he is very tired and a bit out of it because of the painkillers we gave him so he will need to rest."

Gibbs nodded his head and he and Chris watched as the doctor exited the room before the older man turned to his companion. "You should go and book yourself a room in a hotel. We'll drive back to NCIS later today." Chris nodded his head and yawned widely.

"You want me to book one for you too?"

"No need, I'll stay here for the night." the younger man decided wisely not to comment but instead stood up and turned to go before he realized that he didn't have a car, he turned to Gibbs and barely caught the item that was thrown at him, but as he looked at his hand he saw the keys to the car in it. He grinned and tossed a salute at the older man before heading out, leaving the older agent to wait for the nurse to take him to DiNozzo.

TBC...

**_A/N: Okay so i have a question for you all. Originally this fic was nine chapters long and i was supposed to write a sequel, now i'm thinking i could just add the sequel to the end of this fic. So the question is would you rather read two smaller fics or one longer? I'm not sure yet which would be better and thought i'd ask for your opinion... I hope that made sense to you, i did something very stupid and now i have a concussion (well getting hit on the head three times in two days will do that do you and it was my own damn fault for hitting my head XD) and i'm blaming the concussion for my not sense makingness... _**


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Sooo as you see I'm here again with chapter 9 with me, yay :) Okay so it's looking like this fic will be continued here instead of cutting off after this chap and heading for a sequel. It might take me a bit longer to get the chapters up as now I have to write everything as I go along and I only have a very basic idea of where I'm going with this fic and I start practical training in a week so that will probably mess up all of my plans... But rest assured I will be working hard to get this finished and if I start slacking off I give my beta permission to kick my butt into shape ;) So anyways the usual thanks goes to all my readers and reviewers as well as my lovely beta Finlaure, and of course to Donttouch who is the reason this fic is being written in the first place XD. Hope you Enjoy:**_

The nurse had come to get Gibbs and escorted him to a private room where they had taken Tony. With his badge and a few well placed threats, the older man guaranteed that he would be able to stay the night with the younger man.

He now sat next to the bed and watched the young Detective lying on the bed. He tried to make sense why this man felt so important to him and why he felt so protective of him. He knew he was attracted to the other man, but still that didn't explain the strength of his resolve to bring the Detective with him when they left for DC.

Gibbs was pulled from his musings when he heard a groan from the occupant of the bed. He was on his feet in an instant and he smiled when the green eyes opened to slits.

Tony groaned again as he tried to turn and the pain in his chest and abdomen made itself known. He closed his eyes as he breathed through the pain. As he became more aware of his surroundings he felt someone squeezing his shoulder and telling him to take it easy. It took him a little longer than he would have liked to place the voice and when he did his eyes popped open, "Gibbs?"

"Yeah I'm here, you should be asleep."

"What are you doing here?" Tony was confused as to why the NCIS agent was holding a vigil at his bedside and not on his way back to DC. Not that he wanted the man to leave, but he hadn't really expected him to stay.

"Because I want to be and I we have some things we need to talk about," Jethro answered and the cryptic statement caused a frown to appear on Tony's face.

"Talk?"

"Yeah, but later, right now you need to sleep," Gibbs could see the younger man's eyelids were drooping and he had to smile as the man tried to shake his head even though the lingering drugs in his system made the movements jerky at best.

"Not tired," came the petulant answer but as if to prove himself wrong, the detective had barely gotten the words out when a yawn escaped his mouth and his eyes slid closed and stayed that way for the rest of the night and well into the morning.

Gibbs watched as the younger man fell asleep and surprised himself by how much it calmed him to see this man he barely knew sleeping peacefully. He shook his head before he tipped back to rest on the back of the chair and closed his own eyes. Soon he was sleeping as well.

It was around noon when Tony next woke up. He slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around the room, he was disappointed to find himself alone and immediately chastised himself for being stupid and wishing the older man was there.

'Don't need him holding my hand like some damn kid' he thought as he tried to get more comfortable on the hard hospital bed. He was pleased to note that not only had the pain in his chest and abdomen settled to a dull throbbing, but the drug seemed to be wearing off as he could move every part of his body without any difficulties. Well without major difficulties he thought as he moved his arms a bit too enthusiastically and aggravated his injuries. He hissed out a breath and lowered the limbs back to the bed from where he had been moving them up and down.

"I think going slow might be a key word for you for a while," a voice from the doorway caused Tony's head to snap up. He smiled a bit when he saw Gibbs standing by the door with what looked like a fresh cup of coffee in his hand.

"Nah, going slow is for sissies. As soon as the doc decides to grace me with his presence I shall be out of here and on my way to work."

Gibbs frowned at that and moved to sit on the chair next to the bed.

"That's actually something I wanted to talk to you about. Why the hell would you work in a place like that? The people around there are narrow minded idiots." Gibbs had read Tony's file and knew the man was one of the best undercover operatives he had seen in a long time, but Baltimore PD hadn't utilized that potential but twice during the two years the man had worked for them. Once was the previous night and the other was a few months back on an operation that was a suicide mission to start with but somehow Tony managed to get out alive and had been treated like dirt and given the assignments no one wanted. And Jethro had a pretty good idea why.

Tony looked away and gathered his thoughts. He didn't really know why he had chosen to stick around after his secret had come out and he had become the lowest scum in the eyes of his fellow police men. He had thought about leaving, but he had nowhere to go. Well that wasn't true, he knew his parents or his brother would greet him with open arms, but his pride would never allow him to go back home to lick his wounds. DiNozzo thought why it was so hard to answer the simple question. It wasn't like Gibbs was the only one to have asked it. Chris, his older brother had asked it when he had seen how ragged around the edges Tony was becoming as he worked himself to the ground trying to be the perfect cop even with everyone trying to stand in his way.

Tony sighed before answering, "It's not that bad." but as he saw the angry look on Gibbs' face he tried to explain in some way, but didn't get the chance.

"Not that bad? The captain called you a queen who's only there because your daddy bought you your first job and let's not forget the fact that you were working the scene alone when I arrived and I'd bet it wasn't the first time. You're getting yourself killed while working without back up!" the older man's voice was harsher than he intended, but the indifference in the younger man's voice had pissed him off maybe even more than actually hearing the captain say those and some more disgracing things of the detective.

Tony blushed and looked embarrassed at that, "Yeah well, if you know someone who'd hire a screw up with that recommendation, have them call me"

That made Jethro smile a satisfied little smile.

"Oh I know someone alright. I want you on my team." The look on Tony's face was one of open amazement and fearful distrust.

"You're messing with me right? That's twisted."

"Not messing with you. I've seen you work these past few days and I read your file. I could need a cop with street smarts and a way with people on my team. It doesn't hurt either that you have pretty impressive undercover background from your Philly and Peoria days." There was nothing but sincerity in the older man's eyes and Tony allowed himself to relax the muscles that had tensed during the conversation.

"Okay," He agreed easily, after all his situation couldn't get much worse than it was in Baltimore and it seemed that Gibbs knew about the fact that he was Bi and seemed okay with it so that wouldn't cause problems later, "If you're sure."

"Wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. I already cleared it with both your boss and mine so you'll report on Monday after the next in Navy Yard, Washington DC 8 am sharp." with that Gibbs got up and drained his coffee cup before throwing it into a trash bin.

"Wait, how did you know I'd go for it?" Tony asked again amazed by the direction this little talk had gone.

"I had a gut feeling," Gibbs said before taking a business card from his pocket and handing it to the man on the bed, "If you need any help with moving or finding a place to live in you call me. Or if the jackasses down at the station give you grief you let me know. You're mine now." Jethro squeezed Tony's shoulder and turned to leave the hospital room when DiNozzo's quiet voice stopped him in his tracks.

"LJ? Thank you," Jethro smiled at the nickname he hadn't heard since he left active service, the fact that Tony remembered and his use of the name warmed his heart in a way that would soon be in total violation of rule 12. He shook his head as images of other situations where Tony could call him that popped in his mind.

Gibbs turned around and Tony could see the wide grin on the older man's face. The smile made the man look much younger and made the soon to be EX-Detective wonder how he hadn't recognized him as soon as they met at the crime scene. DiNozzo had only a few moments to bask in the grin and how it lit up the face of the normally gruff NCIS agent before LJ answered him and turned to walk away.

"It was and still is my pleasure. If you need a place to stay while you look for an apartment my door is open, and it seems that we have some catching up to do anyway," Jethro said with a bares hint of a wink

With that, Gibbs left the hospital room, knowing that Pacci was waiting outside the hospital with the car so they could drive back to Washington.

"So the kid said yes?" Chris ventured when he saw the smug yet happy look on the Lead agent's face as he caught the keys Pacci had just thrown him. The look alone told everything and the younger man smiled and hopped into the car before the two started the long drive to DC.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: So, here's chapter 10. Thank you for alerts/reviews/favs and thank you to my beta :) See I kept it short ;) Next chapter most likely won't be up until sometime next week, but i'll try to make it a bit longer ;D Enjoy:**_

Tony watched as the lead NCIS agent left the hospital room and he couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he thought about the turn of events. DiNozzo yawned and closed his eyes thinking that this could be a start of something wonderful, or a complete disaster. But that was something only time would tell and it was like his mother liked to say: Que sera sera, what will be will be.

At that thought his eyes snapped open and he sat up in bed with a gasp as his ribs protested the violent movement. '_Oh Crap'_ he thought as he fell back to the bed and closed his eyes against the pain running through his body. Tony pried his eyes open again as the pain settled in a more manageable level and reached carefully for the bed controls and raised the head of the cot so that he was half sitting up before he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

His parents. He had totally forgotten that his brother Chris was his next of kin in all the paper work and would surely have been notified as soon as he had been admitted. _'And if he knows probably so do mom and dad' the_ thought brought only small amount of reassurance because he knew what was coming, his parents would no doubt be on their way over as soon as humanly possible and most likely Chris would be there even before them as his brother was on a business trip and so was closer to Baltimore than their parents.

But maybe he would luck out and the doctor or nurses hadn't contacted his brother yet. Tony mentally nodded his head as he knew actually doing it while having a concussion wouldn't be all that pleasant and reached for the call button, it took him a few tries to get the button as his hand shook a bit and he cursed the drugs he had been given both by the perps and by the hospital staff, but finally he managed to push the little green button and he settled in to wait for a nurse to appear.

It didn't take long before Tony heard the sound of footsteps approaching his room and soon there was a knock on the door before a young nurse with her red hair gathered into a bun came in and smiled brightly at her patient.

"Hi, I'm Nurse Anna how are you feeling?" The nurse introduced herself as she busied herself by checking the heart monitor Tony had been hooked onto so they could see if the drugs affected his heart and she also checked his oxygen levels.

Tony tracked her movements with his eyes and once the nurse's gaze settled on him, he gave her a bright smile, "I'm fine, I was just wondering if you could get me my clothes so I could get out of here?"

The nurse raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head ,"I'm sorry Mister DiNozzo, but your doctor would like to keep you here for a few hours longer at least and do some testing to make sure the drugs you were given have left your system."

"Please just call me Tony. Mister DiNozzo makes me feel like an old man. I was also wondering if you contacted my next of kin upon my arrival," He said with a wink causing the nurse to roll her eyes a bit but smile none the less.

"Okay Tony it is. And yes, we contacted your -brother, I believe?" At Tony's nod she continued, "He informed us he would be here sometime today and to let him know if you were being released before he could get here."

Tony groaned at the knowledge that his brother would likely be there at any given minute. He smiled weakly at the nurse who after asking if he needed anything else and was answered in the negative, left the room to check on other patients.

DiNozzo fiddled a bit with the bed controls to get himself in a more lying position as the sitting was really starting to bother his ribs. He had just gotten himself in a good position when a voice came from the doorway.

"I don't know whether to thank you for getting me out of the most boring meeting of my life or to yell at you for being so damn reckless and landing yourself in a hospital yet again."

Tony smiled slightly and didn't bother changing position as his brother made his way from the doorway to sit on the chair next to the bed.

"Thank you would be nice."

"Wise ass," Chris said as he shook his head as he took in his little brother's state.

"So at least this time there are no new bullet holes," He said with a grimace as he thought of the last time he had been called when Tony had been injured. He never wanted to see his brother so pale and lying unconscious on a hospital bed.

"Just a bump on the head and a few sore ribs, no biggie," Tony answered while Chris snorted his opinion of _that_.

"So when the doctor told me you had been drugged, had broken ribs and a concussion he was just exaggerating? I gotta tell you Tones, you're lucky I didn't call mom and pops so they're not here to hear your lame attempts at downplaying your injuries."

Tony released a small sigh of relief, "They don't know?"

It wasn't that the younger of the two didn't love his parents or appreciate their concern, but both Anthony and Celia were such mother hens that every time they heard that their baby boy had been hurt they drove him crazy with their hovering and nagging about how he should take better care of himself.

"No, the doc said you'd be fine and there was no bigger damage so I thought I would let you rest for a day or two before I drag your ass to New York so we can tell them in person and maybe they won't worry so much." Chris's voice was firm and the tone suggested that the subject was closed and there was no way Tony would get out of going.

The younger man sighed and ran a hand over his face, "Yeah, you're right. And now that I'm between jobs it's as good time as any to get in a visit with the folks before I move."

That got the older man's attention and he sat ramrod straight before leaning a bit forward to stare straight at the other man's eyes.

"Between jobs? What the hell did you do?"

"Hey I did nothing wrong, as a matter of fact I did so good job on this case that I was offered a job as a federal agent and I'm going to be working for NCIS," There was an innocent expression on Tony's face and Chris just knew that there was more to come.

"Oh and I forgot to mention that my future boss is one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, LJ Gibbs if you'd prefer and he has a tendency of being in the right place at the right time."

It took a moment for Chris's mind to process the words and the implication, but when he did his eyes widened slightly.

"No way, the same LJ Gibbs that saved your life when you were eleven and who you've been dreaming of being since that day?"

Chris couldn't help but laugh lightly when the tips of his brother's ears along with the rest of his face turned red.

TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Okay so here's chapter 11, I started practical training today and I got my shifts for the next three weeks, and unfortunately it seems that I won't have a lot of time for writing. So I'm thinking it'll again probably be a week before I can get the next chapter up, but of course I'm trying my best to get the chapters written as quickly as possible. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to my beta Finlaure who has been a big motivator and a wonderful beta :) **_

It took a few hours, a lot of tests and some sweet talking, but in the late afternoon Tony was finally released from the hospital. He took a deep breath as he stepped outside with his brother standing beside him. The tests had shown that the drugs had left Tony's body, but they had left him feeling weak and a bit unsteady so Chris was making sure the younger man wouldn't fall flat on his face while making his escape by keeping one arm around his little brother's waist.

"Ah, the sweet smell of freedom," Tony breathed as they made their way towards the parking lot.

"You where there for, less than a day and you act like you were just granted pardon from a life sentence," Chris knew his brother hated hospitals with a passion, which really wasn't a wonder considering the younger man had always been a trouble magnet and as an overly active kid he'd had more than his share of painful visits to the place. But still the kid was being over dramatic.

The older brother's musings were interrupted when Tony spoke again, "So what's the plan? We heading to New York tomorrow or tonight?"

Chris contemplated their options as he helped his brother into the front passenger's seat of his rental.

"You think you'll be able to get everything done by tonight? I need to call dad to get the jet to come pick us up." The doctor hadn't been too keen with the idea of Tony flying anywhere just yet, but he reluctantly okayed them taking the jet as long as Tony was careful with his ribs and kept them wrapped properly.

"I'm good to go as soon as I go down to the station and clean out my desk," Chris climbed into the driver's seat and started the car, "You don't need to give your notice?"

"It's taken care of," Tony said and carefully made sure his brother couldn't see his face.

It wouldn't be necessary for Tony to hand in his resignation or anything because while his brother had been gone to make some calls earlier Tony had called his friend down at the station and found out that the captain had made it known to the entire predict that Tony had been fired, effective immediately. DiNozzo didn't fret over it, after all it really didn't matter whether he resigned or was fired as the end result would still remain the same and he'd be gone to start over in DC.

The ride to the station was made in silence as Tony dozed for most of the trip. When the car came to a stop, the younger man jerked awake and looked blearily around before he realized where they were.

"You want me to come with you?" Chris asked, not wanting to seem like he was hovering, but wanting to help none the less.

"Nah, it's okay. I'll just get my stuff and I'm done," Tony smiled at his brother. But it came out more like a grimace as he was getting out at the same time and his ribs protested the movement.

The older DiNozzo looked a bit skeptical, but nodded.

"I'll give you ten," Chris said and got out of the car to lean against it.

The younger of the two rolled his eyes at the implied 'then I'll come and look for you' and walked inside.

It didn't take Tony long to empty his desk as there were only a few personal items and everything else went straight into trash. He ignored everyone in the bullpen who were looking at him smirking as they watched him clean his desk.

"Yo DiNozzo! Finally decided to go back to your momma?" One of the men watching the proceedings called out and others snickered at what they thought was funny.

There were some other attempts at riling him, but he couldn't be bothered to respond and a few minutes later he was walking out of the station house with a small box and his back as straight as his injured ribs would allow.

He was just walking towards the car and his brother when two officers came outside and one of them waved a dark haired doll in the air.

"Hey, Faggot you forgot your Cher doll!" The guy threw the doll at his back, but the throw was too short so it never made contact.

Tony gritted his teeth but kept walking, he didn't want to aggravate the situation as Chris had already seen and heard too much to be explained easily.

The two bothers got into the car and Chris started the car, but his brow was furrowed with concern at the way the people at the Baltimore P.D. had behaved and the concern shot up a notch when he glanced at the younger man and saw his hands had started shaking.

"What the hell was that?" He said angrily after a few moments of silence.

"Just drop it." the younger man's voice held a ton of weariness in it, but the older of the two was too pissed off to let the subject go.

"Damn it Tony, Why didn't you ever tell me it was that bad?"

"It's not so bad. They were just horsing around..."

"Horsing around? Are you serious?" Chris's tone was incredulous and indignant, "Just because you're bi."

Tony's head snapped up to look at his brother at that. "I- You- what?"

Chris snorted in amusement at his brother's amazement, "You thought I didn't know? The way you stared at the gardener's son when you were fifteen was a big clue. Not to mention finding you in lip lock with him a year later. Besides you really thought I brought your lame excuses for why most people at BPD hated your guts." Tony had been shocked by his brother knowing his dirty secret and obviously not minding but once he mentioned the lip lock his green eyes widened with realization.

"You what? Do mom and dad know?" Tony's mind was reeling and he was dreading the coming answer.

"No, it wasn't my place to tell them." The younger man sighed in relief.

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Tony's phone rang at that moment preventing Chris from answering him. The younger man grinned as he saw the caller ID.

"Tony here who's there?" he said knowing full well it was his friend Dan from the Baltimore PD.

"_Hey man, heard I missed you. You heading home?" _

"Yeah, we're going to get my bag from my place and then head to New York to see the folks."

"_That's what I thought. Listen is there anything I can you help with?"_ Tony contemplated the offer for a minute before answering.

"Actually there is, I know your friend owns a moving company. Could you give him a call and have him pack all of my stuff up and move everything to storage? It'll probably take me a while to find a place in DC and I can't pack everything myself anyways with Chris here on a mother hen mode," The man in question rolled his eyes at the mentioning of his name.

"_No problem. I'll call him as soon as I'm done with you. I still have your spare key so there shouldn't be any problems but I'll give you a ring if anything happens." _

Tony snorted at the choice of words, "Oh Danny boy you're not my type and besides I think your wife might object to you giving me a ring when she's still trying to get you to upgrade hers."

Dan's snort was his only answer as the call was disconnected but not before Tony could hear the other man muttering something about insufferable smart-asses.

He grinned as he shoved the cell back into his pocket and opened the door as they had just parked in front of his apartment building.

The two men made short work of packing the stuff Tony would need and making sure the fridge was cleaned out and the only plant in the place had enough water, which really wasn't much since the plant was a cactus.

Tony had been pleasantly surprised that there had been no nasty farewell gifts waiting for him by his door and so he was in a good mood as they started the trip towards the airport where the jet was waiting for them like Chris had requested while Tony had been cleaning his desk at the predict.

When they arrived at the airport their first stop was the car rental place where Chris returned the car keys. By the time they got in the plane Tony was feeling like shit since he hadn't taken any pain pills after leaving the hospital and now he was starting to regret it. He was tired and in pain so as soon as they got settled the younger man fell asleep, not seeing the worried look the older brother sent his way.

Chris took the opportunity to study his brother and he didn't like how the younger man was as curled up as he could to ease the pain in his ribs and the dark circles under the kid's eyes were too dark for his liking.

When the plane arrived to New York and the brothers got out, there was a car and a driver already waiting for them to drive them to the DiNozzo Mansion. The ride was made in silence as Tony tried to figure out how to tell their parents everything that had happened without worrying them and Chris was trying not to laugh at his brother who was frowning in consecration and occasionally he seemed to get an idea but soon he apparently deemed it bad because the frown would reform on his forehead.

The car pulled through the gates of the mansion and Tony looked out with a smile as it had been a while since he'd last been back home and the place was full of great memories and Tony loved the house and the surrounding garden.

The car came to a stop and the driver came out to carry their luggage inside as the brothers stood next to the car for a moment as Tony braced himself for going in.

Chris gave a chuckle as he walked up the steps but before he could get to the top, Anthony and Celia DiNozzo came out and both greeted him with hugs before they caught sight of their younger son and his bruised face.

"Tonio!" His mother cried out as she hurried to her son and drew him into a hug before quickly releasing him as if she'd been burned when Tony hissed with pain.

"Sorry Mom, just some sore ribs," Celia kissed her son's cheeks as Anthony came to stand beside his youngest son and carefully hugged him and dropped a kiss to the top of his head.

"What did you do to yourself this time Tonio?" Anthony asked as he kept an arm around Tony's shoulder's as Celia traced the bruise on his face with a delicate finger before trying to kiss it better.

Tony turned pleading eyes to Chris wanting his older brother to save him from answering, but he just smirked and waved his hand at his little brother who was being fussed to death by both of their parents.

"Maybe we should take this inside? Then Tony can tell us all about how he got drugged and hurt and about his new job that has him quitting the PD and moving to DC."

Tony groaned and glared at his brother silently swearing revenge. Chris's smirk widened as he saw Tony cringe a bit as their parents started demanding more information.

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: I'm here again :) This chapter is more of a filler than anything, but I'm trying to get the next chapter up in a few days. Thank you to everyone for everything and please enjoy ;D**_

Tony gave a quiet sigh of relief as he sank gratefully on the soft mattress of the king sized bed in his room at the DiNozzo mansion.

After he and Chris had arrived and had been ushered inside by the elder DiNozzo's it had taken Tony ages to convince his parents that he didn't need a doctor and that he was fine. That was after everything had been "helpfully" brought to Celia's and Anthony's attention by his ever helpful older brother. Then he had to explain why he was leaving Baltimore to go to DC and that brought out a whole new set of questions. The helpfully reviled information included that he would be working for the same man the men of the family had met all those years ago in Stillwater, Pennsylvania.

By the time he was done explaining everything it was time for dinner and Chris said his good-byes and headed home to his own family. The other three got ready for dinner and spent a quiet evening together, both parents eager to hear more of what their youngest son had been up to.

Tony stretched on his bed, mindful of his ribs though the pain wasn't that bad since with two mother hens in the vicinity, there had been no skipping his pain meds. Now that he was alone the tiredness he had been feeling earlier was gone and replaced by thoughts whirling in his mind.

He couldn't believe his brother had known for so long that he was bi. Even if Tony tended to prefer more male than female company there still was a number of both, not that he really expected the older man to make a big deal of it. Chris hadn't given any indication of being aware of the 'big secret' the younger man had believed to be unknown to everyone in his family. And that led to another thought, if Chris had suspected even before he had caught Tony kissing another boy, did his parents suspect as well? Or had he been careless enough for them to not only wonder, but perhaps even be in the know.

That line of thought both scared and relieved the young man.

If and it was a big if, his parents knew about his sexual orientation but had chosen not to bring it up, then they most likely were okay with it since there hadn't been anything to indicate the opposite. But then there was the problem that if they didn't know and he brought the subject up, there was no way to know how the folks would react.

Tony rubbed his forehead as he could feel a tension headache building. He had long since accepted that some of his choices had disappointed his parents but the two had accepted every one of them in the end, but this might prove to be too much. Risking his life in the line of duty to bring justice to the innocent might not have been the career choice anyone hoped for him, but it was in the end an admirable choice. A lot of times Tony had done things that gave his parents a reason to be proud.

Tonguing another guy was in no way a comparable thing, especially if the guy you wanted to be tonguing happened to be your soon-to-be boss.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath as his mind was filled with thoughts of the silver haired man. It was ridiculous how he could be feeling like _this_ after knowing the man for only such a short time. But there was something about the man that just screamed at him and he berated himself for being stupid enough to except the job offer since the way he thought of the man was no way appropriate way to look at your superior. Then another thought came to his mind, there was the fact that two times now Gibbs had been there to save him and maybe some part of his feelings could be explained by gratefulness and that was all.

Nodding in satisfaction of finding a plausible explanation for the irrationality of his feelings, even if he didn't believe it to be true, he turned his wandering mind back to the problem he had been trying to work out.

Should he tell his parents and hope that they either knew already or were willing to except his 'choice' or did he go on pretending to be something he wasn't and wish the deceiving wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass?

Well there was a third choice sure, but he had tried actually _being_ something he wasn't and though it worked for a short time, it never ended well. Being undercover his whole life held no appeal and would only make him hate what he had made himself for it. And there really was his answer, he couldn't hide forever.

With decision made Tony found his eyelids getting heavier as sleep beaconed to his tired mind. He would tell his parents the next day and hope for the best, and besides he could always try to play up his injuries for a bit of sympathy and understanding. Plan in mind, the almost- NCIS agent closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: The unlucky number thirteen is here ;) Though I have always considered it one of my lucky numbers but anyways... And people we have reached one hundred reviews! Yay :D Keep up the good work my wonderful readers ;D Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed the fic so far and as always the chapter wouldn't be what it is without my lovely beta Finlaure. Hope you enjoy: **_

The next morning Tony woke up feeling apprehensive but surprisingly well rested. He looked up at the clock on his night stand and was pleased to find that he had not only slept all night, but most of the morning as well and the rest had done him a world of good.

He took his time getting up and getting into a shower. He knew the doctor had said to keep his ribs wrapped, but the hell with that. It was only a few breaks, nothing major so there really was no need to keep the heavy bandages on. He would just need to be more careful so he wouldn't aggravate his injuries.

The room he had in his parent's place was more like a hotel suite than a regular room. The main area had the king sized bed along with a television set, sofa and a big bookshelf that housed a big collection of his favorite movies he liked to watch both as a teenager and any time he came to visit the folks. The room had a wardrobe that was big enough to accommodate as many suits, jeans, shoes and other clothes and accessories a man could dream of needing.

Tony stepped in the closet to get a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt before he entered the bathroom that was attached to the main area. The bathroom itself was like from an upscale hotel, it had one of those fancy showers that had water coming from multiple shower heads all of which could be set to a regular water flow, a mist or a number of other options. Deciding to forgo the shower, Tony walked to the bathtub that was more of a Jacuzzi and was big enough to comfortably hold two people. He ran the water before stripping and taking off all the bandages and other little memoirs from his hospital visit, including one of the leads they place on your chest and other parts of your body to take and EKG. He shook his head as he pulled the sticky thing off his side wondering how he hadn't noticed it earlier.

That done he stepped in the tub and sank into the warm water, just enjoying the warm water easing the tension from his body before he pressed the button to get the jets to work on his knotted muscles. After an half an hour of soaking, Tony decided it best to get out before he would turn into a prune, so he shut off the jets and pulled the plug to empty the tub and got up and dried.

He dressed in the casual clothes he had brought into the bathroom from the closet and styled his hair to perfection before heading down to search for his parents. He felt some of the tension return as he felt like he was walking the green mile and heading for an execution rather than to see his parents. His stomach was in knots and he decided to skip breakfast as that would just make him nauseous and besides it would be best to just get this conversation over with.

Tony heard voices coming from the family room and headed in that direction. He stood by the open door and briefly wished he had put on one of his power suits instead of the more casual choice, but pushed the thought aside and entered the room with a polite knock on the door frame.

The family room was a tastefully decorated chamber with a plush couch, matching armchairs and a fireplace. On the couch sat Celia and Anthony DiNozzo and to Tony's surprise his brother and his wife Mary were occupying two of the armchairs.

"Sleeping beauty has finally decided to grace us with his presence," Chris chided in a teasing voice as he caught sight of his baby brother, but the beautiful woman next to him jabbed him causing the older of the brother's to frown and rub his side.

"Be nice, I think after the days he's had he deserves the rest," Mary said getting up and approaching the youngest person in the room, "Tony, it has been too long," the petite woman said as she came to stand in front of Tony and took hold of his face with both hands as she bend him slightly forward so she could place a kiss to both of his cheeks.

"Yes it has," Tony echoed the greeting and looked the woman in front of him and smiled slightly as his eyes went from the long black hair to her glowing face and the brown eyes and then he caught sight of the bump on the woman's belly, "You're getting big there little lady," he said with a grin as Mary socked him on the shoulder.

"Gee, thank you for the kind observation. But you know I have a baby in there, what's your excuse?" She said patting Tony's lean belly with her hand causing the three other people in the room to chuckle softly at the words.

Tony put on his best wounded puppy look which had Mary shaking her head as she turned to reclaim her seat beside her husband. He made his way over to the sofa and gave his mother a kiss on her cheek before he turned to take one of the unoccupied armchairs.

Chris and Anthony were discussing some upcoming business deal while Mary and Celia settled into a talk about the pregnancy and how Mary was doing. Tony listened with half an ear to both conversations, but really he was trying to figure a way to steer the conversation onto the topic he needed. It turned out however that he didn't need to do anything as his father gave him the perfect opening. Apparently the men were done with the business talk and had joined the conversation of the new baby when Anthony turned his attention to his youngest son.

"So Tonio, have you found anyone special yet who you'd like to settle down and have a family with?" Chris cringed slightly for his brother but Tony just took a deep breath and looked first his mother in the eyes and then locked eyes with his father.

"About that, there's actually something I need to tell you both," He shot a look at Chris who was looking at him with wide eyes as he realized what was coming next.

"Mom, Dad. I know you're hoping I settle down with a nice girl and have children and the works, but the thing is- I'm gay," He finally just blurted out and the truth of the statement hit him. No matter how many women there had been in the past, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that the one he would eventually settle down with, if he ever did, would be of the male variety. Explaining that would be easier and this way there wouldn't be a hope for his parents that someday he'd find the right girl and settle down with her.

Or at least that was what he thought.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments as both Celia and Anthony processed the stunning revelation, "So you like- Men?"

Tony just nodded his head and waited for what would follow.

"I think we shouldn't jump into any conclusions. I mean you have been a normal boy and this _phase _will surely pass if we'll just give it some time," Celia nodded her head at her husband's statement.

"Antonio is right. Maybe if we organized a small gathering and invited the lovely Sandra from down the street, then Tony might see the light so to speak."

Tony stared open mouthed at his parents as did his brother and his wife.

"This is not a _phase!_ I like men, I've always liked them and always will, there won't be anything to change that."

Anthony stood up from his place on the couch, "Anthony Junior. You will not upset your mother by such talk. We'll work this out-"

"What's there to work out? Tony is gay, that isn't the end of the world," Chris interrupted before the confrontation could go any further.

"Christopher, did you know about this?" Celia asked her son who nodded his head, she breathed a sigh of relief, "Maybe then you can talk some sense to your brother, he shouldn't throw his life to waste like this."

Tony couldn't listen anymore. He got up and walked out of the room, ignoring the raised voiced coming from the room he just left. He felt bad for the fact that Chris had been dragged in the middle of this but he pushed the thought aside as he went to his room and got his bag he hadn't had time to unpack and put on his jacket and shoes before returning to the family room.

The people in there weren't shouting, but their voices were raised as Chris tried to talk sense to his parents with the help of Mary. Tony shook his head sadly and stepped in the room and loudly cleared his throat. The four people turned to look at him and his mother raised a hand to her mouth as she saw him standing there ready to leave.

"Chris and Mary, I'm sorry you got caught up in this. Mother, Father, I'm sorry I can't be the son you wanted. Don't spoil your relationship with Chris because of me. I'm leaving for DC now so I won't bring anymore bad blood in this house." He had tears in his eyes as he turned away not seeing the stricken looks on both Celia's and Anthony's faces and again ignoring everyone he walked out of the room and the house, stopping only when he was clear of the gates.

He heard a car coming from the gate and stop next to him. He raised his eyes to see Chris in the driver's seat and the older man opened the passenger's door.

"Get in," The older man said and Tony complied, not having the energy to fight his brother on the subject, "Mary is talking with them. You know they didn't mean it like you thought."

Tony gave a bitter laugh as he rested his head on the back of the seat.

"Yeah they did. It's fine Chris. Just if you'd drive me to the airport I can get going."

The older man shook his head sadly, but didn't argue. He knew both his brother and their parents needed some time so maybe it would be best to let Tony take the distance he seemed to need right then.

"Okay, but promise me you'll call if you need anything or if something happens."

"I promise. Thanks," Tony said with sincere gratitude that his brother had let the subject drop for now.

"I'll get the company jet to take you," Chris said with a tone that clearly said that the issue wasn't open for discussion.

The rest of the short drive was made in silence only broken by the call Chris made to get the jet ready to take Tony to DC.

They arrived to the airport and the older brother escorted Tony to the gate from where he would get to the private plane.

"Take care Tony, and remember what you promised," Chris said as he carefully hugged the younger man.

"I will, you take care too and make sure everyone's fine," Tony took the bag his brother had been carrying for him and with a final wave made his way to the gate and towards the jet.

He was the only passenger on the flight so after takeoff he settled himself on one of the big couches and let his head drop to the back of the couch. He couldn't believe how badly things had gone so fast. He felt tears sting his eyes, but he didn't let them overwhelm him but kept them at bay.

After the long flight he got out of the plane in Washington, D.C. and paused when he entered the airport terminal. He had no idea what to do. He didn't have a place to stay. He knew barely anyone in the whole city apart from some local Leos he had been forced to work with once or twice. He thought of what to do when he realized who he wanted to call and he searched his things for the number.

He finally found the business card and sat on a bench to take out his cell. It was nearing eight in the evening so he was pretty sure the man would be home unless he had gotten a case that would cause him to work all evening.

Taking a deep breath Tony dialed the number and waited for the other man to answer. It took only two rings for the call to connect and a gruff voice floated in his ear.

"_Gibbs." _

"Gibbs, I need your help."

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: Hiya folks! For some reason I can't think of anything to say, weird I know... Well anyways Thank you to my wonderful beta Finalure who helped not only to make me look better by correcting my many grammatic errors, but also corrected my lack of knowledge about airports in DC and the like ) Thankies to all my reviewers, i really appreciate every single one of you as you make me want to write more and more :) Hope you Enjoy! ;D**_

Gibbs walked down the basement stairs and as soon as he had reached the bottom he zoomed in on his sanding block. Armed with it he turned to his boat and started the soothing smoothing action. He thought back to the past few days and everything that had happened.

He and Pacci had returned from their assignment in Baltimore the previous day and the director had given them both a long weekend and after that Jethro would get a new TAD agent to work as his senior field agent for the time being and Chris Pacci would get to start assembling his very own team.

Gibbs ran the sander over a particularly rough spot on one of the ribs of the skeleton of the boat as he thought of Baltimore and how one simple case had turned into something much more complicated the second he had recognized DiNozzo.

He hadn't really thought about the boy in a long time apart from occasionally wondering what the now young man was doing and if he was attracting trouble like he used to. Jethro gave a small laugh at that as the case had pretty much answered both of those questions. The boy he had met in Stillwater all those years ago had been special from the moment he had pulled him out of the lake, and now the man the boy had turned into was just as special and evoked the same feeling of protectiveness he had only felt for three other people in his life.

He shook his head a bit to rid himself of thought of his dead wife and daughter as well as his father who he hadn't seen in years. The feelings he had for Tony had maybe once been more paternal, that of a big brother perhaps. But now they were anything but and what he wanted to do to the young Italian was as far from something a brother would do. That brought forth the problem of rule twelve.

It wasn't like Gibbs hadn't broken rules before, but he always knew the outcome to be worth any sanction he might get. He wasn't sure whether or not that was the case right this time. It wasn't just that he wasn't sure about Tony's feelings, but they had only known each other for a short time. To be perfectly honest he was still a little confused by the strength of his feelings and not a bit hesitant of whether it was all real or not.

He liked the younger man yes, was attracted to him and wanted to have something more than a boss-subordinate relationship with him from the beginning.

His contemplations were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. In a way he was glad, as he really didn't want to give any doubts he had been harboring anymore room before he could get to know the younger man better and see where everything was going.

He took his phone from the table where he had thrown it at some point and looked at the caller ID. He didn't recognize the number and for a second contemplated not answering, but that wasn't really his style. He only did that to his ex-wives.

"Gibbs," He answered gruffly, hoping that this wasn't some prank caller who had nothing better to do on a Thursday evening than to call random people for fun.

"_Gibbs, I need your help," _It took a second for him to place the voice but as soon as he did he dropped the sanding block still in his hand and made his way towards the stairs. He heard a world of emotion in the five words and his heart missed a beat as he thought of what might have happened to make the younger man sound so distraught.

"What's wrong Tony? Where are you?" He could here the other man take a rather shaky breath and the hesitancy in the next words was audible as well.

"_I'm at the airport and I just need a place to stay and I didn't know who to call..." _The voice trailed off and Gibbs could picture the younger man biting his lip as he waited for the older man's reaction.

"Okay, I'll come pick you up. Just tell me which airport you are at." He had already ascended the basement stairs and was gathering his wallet and keys as well as putting on his shoes.

"_I'm at Reagan National." _

"Stay put. I'll be there as soon as I can." He slipped on a jacket and slammed the door closed behind him as he snapped the phone shut after hearing the younger man thank him and promise to wait.

He put the car in gear and ignored all speed limits as he made his way to the airport. Gibbs had no idea what had happened as the last he had known his soon to be agent had been in the hospital and there hadn't been any indication that the man would come to DC this soon. And especially without making sure he had a place to stay first, though Jethro had said that DiNozzo could stay at his place, he hadn't really thought his offer would be accepted. His earlier contemplations and hesitations were all forgotten as the idea of seeing Tony again so soon caused his heart to lighten a bit and a smile to lift the corner of his lip.

Oh yeah, he was screwed and for the moment he didn't even mind.

Tony was sitting outside the terminal on a wooden bench as Gibbs stopped his car in front of the younger man. He waited for the man to get up and get in, but Tony seemed to be too deep in thought and hadn't even noticed the car parked in front of him.

Jethro ran a hand down his face before reaching across the seat to open the passenger's door.

"Yo DiNozzo!" He took no pleasure in the way the man in question jumped. And the look in the green eyes which was filled with so much sadness and pain that it made his own heart ache for the young man.

The look was gone quickly as DiNozzo took a breath and plastered on a big grin and sauntered to the car and threw his pack to the back seat, trying in vain to hide the pain the movement caused as he hadn't taken any painkillers that day and his ribs were killing him.

"Thanks for picking me up Gibbs," Tony said with a grin as he sat down carefully and buckled in.

Jethro narrowed his eyes as he noticed how much the younger man was hurting both physically and mentally even if he did try to hide it. He grunted something that sounded like 'not a problem' before starting the car again and pulling away from the airport.

Neither man said anything during the drive to Gibbs' place. Tony closed his eyes as soon as they had started the drive and was deep in thought the whole way. He had been thinking things through while he had been waiting for Gibbs to arrive and now he was feeling like shit, both because of the pain in his chest and for the way his parents had reacted earlier that day.

He couldn't believe he had been so stupid that he had told his folks about his dirty secret. Would it have been so hard to pretend for his parents' sake that he was normal? After everything they had done to him he just had to disappoint them once more and probably worse than he ever had before. Well now they knew what a freak he was. The way his brother had just accepted him so well had made him hopeful and naïve, but now he knew better.

Tony sighed as he thought how he had managed to ruin his relationship with his parents, the only consolation being that at least he still had Chris, though how long would that last was a whole different matter completely.

DiNozzo opened his eyes as the car came to a smooth stop and he looked around trying to place where they were before he realized that they must be at the older man's house. He turned to Gibbs and was surprised to see the blue eyes studying him intently. He met the intense eyes for only a second before he looked away, feeling exposed as if the eyes could bore straight to his soul via his eyes.

There was a tense silence as both men just sat there not really sure what to say, but after a moment Gibbs cleared his throat and told his companion to get in the house.

Tony sighed in relief as he got out of the car, being in such close proximity to the older man had made him hyper aware of his commanding presence and caused heat to spread from his belly to his entire body. He took his things from the backseat and followed the other man to the house, surprised to find that the older man didn't need a key to get in.

"Someone home?" He asked, his heart sank at the thought that maybe the older man was living with someone and that someone would be home waiting for her man to come back home.

Gibbs turned puzzled eyes to his guest as he answered with a gruff, "No, I live alone."

The younger man breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the house behind the other man.

"Then why's your door unlocked? Seems kinda like an open invitation for any and all lowlifes out there."

"If you've got a problem with that, then there's good hotel nearby," The words were said in a jest, but the gruff way they were delivered made the younger man pale at the thought that maybe he shouldn't have bothered the other man. Besides he didn't even know why he had come to DC when he really had no reason to be there yet and he still had an apartment in Baltimore where he could have gone.

"You're right, I should have thought of that before. I'll get out of your hair if you'd call me a cab."

The words caused Gibbs to whirl around and face the younger man. He took in the slightly hunched posture and lines of pain around Tony's eyes. Gibbs sighed as he thought of how stupidly he had said and made a mental note to himself about the fact that his new agent was more insecure than he let on.

"Not what I meant. Guest room is upstairs the first door on the right. Get your stuff there and come to the kitchen." Gibbs said pointing to the stairwell.

Before Tony could react the older man turned and disappeared to what the younger man assumed was the kitchen. He shrugged mentally and went to do as he was told. He stepped into the brightly lit kitchen.

He stopped dead in his track as he saw Gibbs standing in front of the stove frying something that smelled suspiciously like omelets and there was one plate set up on the kitchen table and next to it was a bottle of painkillers.

"Sit," Gibbs ordered without turning around as he tossed something to the pan and turned to get something from the fridge which turned out to be orange juice.

"Um, I'm not really hungry-" Tony started but was silenced by a glare and he moved to sit down on the seat obviously set up for him.

Gibbs poured a glass of juice and placed it next to the plate before taking the frying pan and placing the contents to the plate in front of Tony.

"Eat, I could hear your stomach rumbling on the way here so don't even try that 'not hungry' crap," he ordered and turned to put the pan down only when he saw the other man pick up the fork that had been lying next to the plate.

"What about you?" Tony asked before taking a tentative bite of the omelet, he was surprised pleasantly at the flavor and he tucked into his meal with gusto as the heavy feeling that had settled in his gut gave way to real hunger.

Gibbs leaned against the counter with a cup of coffee he seemed to have produced from nowhere as he watched the younger man eat.

"Not hungry, ate before coming to get you," Which wasn't strictly true but he really wasn't hungry as he had eaten earlier that day, something he was sure the younger man hadn't done. He thought of the reason the man had come to DC, but again his mind drew a blank. The only thing he could think was that something happened in Baltimore that made Tony leave in a hurry, but he'd wait until the Italian had eaten before playing twenty questions with him.

Tony for his part seemed to except the older man's answer without hesitation and was wolfing the omelet down. "That was good," He commented once he was finished and he moved to drain the glass of juice but was stopped as Gibbs came to stand next to him and shook two pills out from the bottle that had been sitting on the table and placed them in front of Tony.

"Take them, they're only Tylenol but it'll take the edge off from the pain."

Tony contemplated pushing the issue, but decided against it and obediently took the pills. His ribs were hurting and so was his head and he knew from past experience that such over the counter meds wouldn't be enough to make him loopy and cause his mouth to run on its own.

Satisfied that Tony had been fed and medicated Gibbs poured himself more coffee before heading to the living room, motioning the younger man to follow him. He settled himself on the couch and pointed the other end of the sofa in clear indication for Tony to sit.

The Italian hesitantly did as he was told, wondering what was coming, but Jethro didn't leave him guessing for long.

"So, you wanna tell me what happened?" Tony looked up from where he had been studying his fingernails at the question and his startled green eyes locked onto searching blue ones.

"What do you mean what happened?" Distraction always worked well for him in the past, so he decided to go with what he knew, "Just thought I'd come to check out some places and forgot to book a hotel room, no big deal. Anyways my ex was getting a little pissy so I wanted to get the hell out of dodge"

That might have worked had Gibbs been anyone else, but being that he wasn't, the older man ignored the attempt at levity and the half assed lie.

"I don't by it. Something happened to make you come to DC, not only that but it was something that got you upset" Tony had dropped his eyes again before trying to lie his way out of admitting the real reason for the unplanned trip to DC and the fact that he really hadn't been functioning at full capacity earlier when he called Gibbs because he had been too numbed by everything. But that was embarrassing and he really didn't want to show his weakness to the older man he had quickly learned to look up to and had feelings for.

"It's really nothing," he said, refusing to meet the piercing blue eyes. He felt a hand on his jaw turning his head upwards until he had no choice but to look into the eyes of the man that had started to mean so much to him.

"It's not '_nothing_' when whatever it is has you hurting so bad I can see it in your eyes."

Tony sighed in defeat and nodded his head that was still gripped by the older man's hand. He told about how his brother had picked him up from the hospital and what had happened when they went to the precinct before continuing, "We flew to New York to see our parents and I got the bright idea of telling them about my interest in guys since Chris already knows."

Gibbs had listened with growing anger as Tony told everything that had happened in the precinct and about the captain telling everyone he had been fired, even though it had been a case of Gibbs stealing the younger man from the captain than the other man throwing his detective out. But as Tony paused in his story, Jethro took a deep breath and with a sense of dread asked confirmation to something he already knew in his gut.

"Take it, that didn't go well."

Tony gave a bitter laugh as he buried his face in his hands before looking back up at the other man.

"They want to cure me. Thought that if they threw women my way I'd 'see the light' as mom put it."

There was silence for a while as Gibbs thought of everything Tony had told him. He could see how that would upset the younger man and he wanted to go and give the DiNozzo's' a piece of his mind, but he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and see they'd come to their senses after they had some time to digest Tony's revelation.

"They were wrong you know, there's nothing wrong with you and only thing that needs curing are those ribs of yours."

Tony gave a startled laugh at the attempt at humor from the man who seemed to be so gruff all the time. Gibbs smiled at the way the tenseness that seemed to have settled on Tony's shoulders seemed to have eased a bit.

Tony let his body sink into the cushions and his head dropped to rest on the back of the couch where he turned it so that he was looking at the older man.

"Thank you Gibbs, for letting me stay here and for not judging me."

"Not my place to judge anyone based on who they sleep with. Besides if I thought liking guys would get you shipped to hell I would have to buy a ticket for myself as well."

Tony sat up at that and looked at his companion with wide eyes.

"You like guys? But you're a Marine!"

Gibbs grinned a bit. He hadn't meant to out himself, but it had just come out and besides maybe it would later prove to be a good thing.

"You saying a Marine can't be bi?" He put a hint of a growl in his voice as he asked that and he almost laughed as Tony tried to dig himself out of the hole he was sinking into.

"Yes- I mean NO, of course a Marine can like guys I just meant with Don't ask don't tell-" Gibbs decided to put the younger man out of his misery.

"I know what you meant." He gave the younger man a small smile as he noticed the yawn he was desperately trying to hide, "It's getting late so why don't you go and get some shut eye."

Tony nodded his head as he let the yawn out and his jaw stretched far enough that the older man thought it would pop from its place. The younger man sat on the couch looking hesitantly at the older man, but just as Gibbs was about to ask what he was thinking, the young Italian wrapped his arms around the other man's middle and rested his head on the slightly shorter man's shoulder.

"Good night LJ," He said as he waited for the older man's reaction, sighing in relief when after a moment of tensing, Gibbs relaxed and wrapped his own arms around the younger man's shoulders in an embrace.

"Good night Tony," The hug lasted for a few more seconds before Tony let go with a bright smile and headed up stairs leaving the older man to sit on the couch with a small gentle smile on his lips.

TBC...


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: Hullo my wonderful readers. I would like to apologize for the long wait since last chapter, but I've been sick and there has been other stuff keeping me busy and stressed latest of which was when we found out at work that there was a very real possibility that most of us were infected with a highly contagious form of a hospital bacteria (not really dangerous for us but a bitch none the less), well ignorance is bliss and I think we would all have been more happy not knowing of the possibility... Anyways, next week is the last one of my practical training so after that I'll be having more time on my hands and hopefully can get the chapters written faster as long as my sickness won't get worst (first time I really realize what it feels to cough up a lung... :/ ) And now I'm whining, I'll stop now and let you get on with the fic. **_

The next morning Tony woke up feeling a lot better than he had when he'd called Gibbs the previous night. He stretched as much as he thought his ribs would allow, not wanting to push the limits of his comfortable range of movement just yet.

He listened for any sounds that would indicate the older man was up and about but heard nothing, though with the marine training on the older man's side, that really didn't mean anything. He turned to his side and sat up slowly, grinning when it felt that nothing was going to scream at him in pain after every movement. The dull ache in his chest was a reminder to take it easy none the less. He looked at the clock on the bed side table and was surprised to see that it was almost noon. He quickly got up and after making the bed he went through his stuff to find some clean clothes.

Armed with clean shirt and sweats he went in search of the bathroom. He was sure Gibbs wouldn't mind him taking a shower so he didn't bother finding the man to ask him for permission. The bathroom was right across the hall from the quest room so it didn't take long for Tony to find it and after rummaging around for a minute to find a towel he started the shower. He took his time to get washed up before he turned off the shower and got dried and clothed. It took more than a few minutes to mess with his hair as he tried to get it in a perfect disarray of spikes. Once satisfied he took a breath and decided to head down to the kitchen and see if he could find the grounds and what not to get the coffee going.

As Tony walked down the stairs he heard someone puttering around in the kitchen and he assumed it must be Gibbs as there really weren't any other people he thought it could be. He smiled slightly as he thought of last night and what they had been talking about. Hope flared up in his chest as Tony thought about when the older man admitted that he wasn't as straight as some might think.

And the hug had made Tony's day big time.

Though now in the morning light Tony wasn't sure it had been a good idea to do that. He was certain he had overstepped a bit by seeking that kind of closeness from the other man. Although it wasn't like the man had pushed him away and ran. He decided to not let his insecurities get the best of him and just to wait and see what today had in store. He nodded his head slightly as he reached the bottom landing and headed towards the sounds coming from the kitchen.

Gibbs woke up his normal time early in the morning as he had done for years before. He donned his running gear and went to check on his guest. He smiled slightly at the sight of the man sprawled on the bed, dead to the world. He walked over to the bed and wrote a note and left it on the bedside table saying that he was going for a run. Then he went down the stairs and after putting on his running shoes he was out of the door.

He set a slow pace to warm up his muscles and trotted down the road towards his favorite route he jogged or ran almost every morning. When he felt his muscles were warm and loose enough he started to pick up the speed a bit as he left the bigger road for a smaller path that would lead him after two miles back to the main road on the other side of his house.

As he jogged his thoughts turned to the man he'd left sleeping at his house. Gibbs knew how hard coming out to your parents could be and he'd been lucky to have an open minded father who couldn't care less who he slept with as long as he was happy. But his heart ached for Tony who had had the whole thing basically tossed in his face from what he had told Gibbs.

He felt slightly guilty as he thought it a good thing in the sense that the events had caused DiNozzo to come to him and DC earlier than he expected and had caused him to reveal his own slightly bent nature to the younger man.

That just caused his thoughts to turn back to the unexpected physical contact and the guilt was forgotten as his mind went to gutter thinking of how things could have progressed from there... He shook his head slightly to clear it from the sudden images that were filling his head which caused his steps to falter slightly, but he quickly righted himself. Gibbs smiled slightly as he continued the jog.

He knew he definitely had feelings for the younger man and after last night Jethro was thinking the younger man might return some of the feelings. Well there was only one way to find out, but Gibbs knew talking had ever been his strong suit. He didn't want to mess this up and he knew he had to tread carefully so that if Tony didn't feel that way about him, they could still work together. Even if there never was anything more between them than friendship, he thought ruefully.

That gave him pause as he realized he hadn't hidden behind his usual defense of rule twelve. He had always used it in the past to protect his heart since the disaster with Jenny. He contemplated that for the rest of the way. As he reached his front porch he decided maybe he should turn the rule from 'never date a co-worker' to 'never date redheads you work with'.

He took off his shoes and left them on the porch before going in and checking on the younger man. Upon seeing Tony hadn't awoken since his last check he took the note from the bedside table and quietly crushed it in his hand. He noticed the blanket wasn't covering the man anymore so he took it and tucked the younger man in as the room was a bit cool. He couldn't resist running a hand through the soft strands of hair as he pulled the blanket up and he smiled slightly as Tony snuggled under the covers.

Gibbs made his way to the master bathroom to take a shower. After he put on clean clothes, he headed down to make some coffee. The second the machine had done its job he took a cup of the hot drink and upon seeing that it was only seven he decided to head down to his boat for a few hours as he was sure the younger man wouldn't wake up yet.

Jethro always liked working on his boats as it gave his hands something to do and it eased his mind a lot like jogging did. He knew what he was doing. Most of the time he didn't have to think too much about it and it gave his mind freedom to wander.

He added new ribs to his boat and was surprised when it was already eleven when he next time checked the time. Time really did fly when you were having fun.

He put down his tools and wiped his hands before he went upstairs and headed into the kitchen. He was just cooking brunch when he heard the floorboards creaking just a bit which signaled the younger man getting up from bed. He contemplated going up and telling him to grab a shower, but found he didn't need to as soon there was the sound of the shower running.

He smiled as he thought that he should have known DiNozzo would know how to make himself at home. He heard the shower shut down fifteen minutes later and he put on eggs to fry. Gibbs turned the oven off before taking the bacon and pancakes out which had been put in there to keep warm.

Finally Gibbs looked over the table and saw that everything they needed was on it. He dished up their meals just as he saw the younger man standing in the doorway.

He smiled at the sight of Tony standing there in his casual clothes and his hair mussed up in spikes. Gibbs turned his gaze away when the Italian blushed and the older man realized that he'd been a bit too obvious in his appraisal.

He cleared his throat and motioned for Tony to sit down.

"Dig in, didn't take the time to make this just so you can stare at it until it gets cold," The words were a bit harsh but Jethro felt a bit embarrassed by his practically drooling at the sight of the man in front of him and being caught at it.

Luckily Tony didn't take offense to either.

"Well good morning to you too," He replied with a smirk as he sat down and watched as Gibbs took the seat opposite to him, "You really didn't need to cook for me, a bowl of cereal would have been more than fine."

Jethro took a gulp of coffee and watched as the younger man dug in his meal before answering, "Had to eat too so it was no trouble." He shrugged the thing off even if he knew that if he'd been alone he probably would have just eaten a sandwich or something as simple.

They ate in comfortable silence until both men were full and leaned back in their seats.

"That was great Gibbs, thanks." Tony said as he took a sip of the strong coffee he had doctored with milk and sugar even if the older man grumbled about it a lot.

"Not a problem. You sleep well last night?" Gibbs asked as he got up and started to clean up the dishes waving off the other man's offer to help.

"Actually better than I thought," Tony had been surprised he'd slept so long and deeply especially after the not so great day he'd had.

"Glad to hear it."

There was silence again as both men were lost in thought. Finally Tony broke the silence as he breached the subject he'd wanted to talk about since the day in autopsy when he made the connection between this Gibbs and LJ.

"Did I ever thank you back then?"

Gibbs paused in his cleaning and looked at the younger man. He took his cup of coffee and sat back down in his seat.

"Yeah I think you did."

"Well good, you know I thought about you a lot after we left Stillwater. I never thought I'd end up seeing you again." The admission was said in a quiet voice. Tony didn't look at the other man as he said it, as if he was afraid he was admitting to the biggest weakness in the world.

The words made Gibbs smile slightly and it gave him the boost he needed to make a confession of his own.

"I thought about you too you know. I wondered if you were always getting yourself in trouble or if it was a onetime thing?"

Tony laughed slightly at that, "Oh I think I'm the worst trouble magnet there is!"

"I can definitely believe that," Gibbs said wryly as he drank in the sight of the other man laughing. Tony caught the look and smiled as he himself enjoyed the sight of seeing the older man relaxed and smiling.

They talked for a long time. Gibbs wanted to know everything that had happened to the younger man since that day he left Stillwater. Tony was happy to share some stories with the older man telling his about his days in school. He told him about his dreams of becoming a pro football player, and how they were crushed the day his knee was messed up in a big game. Finally Tony told him about him becoming a police officer.

Then came the point Gibbs had been dreading. Of course seeing as Tony had just shared his life story with him, the younger man would ask about the older man's life as well. And for reasons he didn't understand he talked and for the first time ever Leroy Jethro Gibbs told someone about his first wife and daughter and their unfortunate fate.

Tony listened intently, not once interrupting the flow of words. He only put his hand over the older man's in a silent support when the words halted as the old pain threatened to overwhelm the almost shattered man.

Afterwards they sat by the table and neither said anything for a minute or two. Gibbs had expected to feel,,, well,,, he didn't know what, anything but this kind of peace that settled over his heart as he shared the pain with someone else. Tony for his part didn't really know what to say so he just settled for squeezing the hand he was still holding and uttering a quiet "I'm sorry".

Gibbs smiled slightly as he now fully realized the fact that they were holding hands, "It was a long time ago, nothing for you to be sorry for."

"I know, but I'm still sorry you had to go through that." Tony moved to pull his hand back, but Gibbs caught it and gave it a squeeze of his own.

"You know she was the last person who called me LJ," The younger man's eyes widened at the admission and he started thinking of a way to apologize when the older man continued, "I've missed it, and it sounds good when you say it."

Tony smiled at that and stood up to walk around the table and stand before the older man. He bent down slightly and placed a small kiss on Gibbs' cheek, "Thank you LJ, for trusting me."

He straightened up and took a small step back as the older man got up as well so they were now standing face to face, only a small gap between their bodies.

Jethro closed the distance between them by pulling Tony into his arms and holding him close, enjoying the way the Italian rested his head on his shoulder.

"Always Tony, I'll always trust you."

They stayed like that for a long time, just standing there locked in an embrace. Then Tony pulled his head back a bit so he could look in Gibbs' eyes. They stared at each other's eyes for a minute, both looking for something before the older man moved a little closer, the young Italian following the movement. Neither heard the front door open and before their lips could meet they heard an exclamation coming from the kitchen doorway.

"Oh my god!"

They both turned to see Abby standing there with a look of shock on her face.

TBC...

_**(We agreed with Finlaure that I'm evil for making you all think the boys would kiss now, let me know if you agree ) :D**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: Okay soooo, here is chapter number 16, and I have to tell you something about it... see, this chapter is the last one of this fic. Yep, I finally decided to end this because there was no where I could go without cutting this here, buuuuut I think I probably should tell you there is going to be a sequel to tie up any and all loose ends. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, put this to their favorites list and to my lovely beta Finlaure who made this fic that much better and thank you to Donttouch who is the reason this fic even exists. For you all who have put this fic on alert, I will add an authors note to this fic once I post the first chap of the sequel so if you wish to read that too, you'll know immediately when it's up :) **_

"Gibbs, living room, NOW!" Abby demanded once she recovered from the shock of seeing her favorite silver haired fox in an almost lip lock with the Ken doll she'd just found out the older man had hired for his team. Actually that was why she had come in the first place, to talk some sense into the NCIS lead agent, but it appeared she might be too late. Those were the thoughts running through her head as she stomped off to the other room, leaving two rather baffled men in her wake.

Tony pulled back slightly as he watched the woman storm off and he looked apologetically at Gibbs. He had heard from Pacci about Abby being Gibbs' favorite and how he should try to get on her good side. Now it looked like he would be on her permanent shit list.

"Maybe I should go, give you a chance to talk with her." He suggested to the man he had almost kissed just a few seconds earlier.

"No," Jethro said with conviction once he got his larger brain back in working order, "Just give me a minute and I'll sort this out." He offered his soon-to-be young lover a reassuring smile and kissed his cheek before turning and steeling himself for the confrontation he had been dreading ever since Abby and Tony first met.

He took a deep breath and let it our slowly before entering the living room to the sight of Abby pacing back and forth on the other side of the room. The Goth caught sight of the man and she stopped her pacing in favor of walking toward him and punching his arm, hard.

"Hey, what's the matter with you Abs?" Gibbs asked as he refrained from rubbing the sore spot on his arm.

Abby for her part seemed like she would explode any given minute, "With me? What's the matter with _you _Gibbs? First I hear that you have hired that- that _Ken doll _to replace Stan freaking Burley who was the best agent I have ever known, after you of course. And then when I come to get an explanation I find you_ kissing _him! You're so not the type to invest in a boy toy Gibbs and I never would have thought you'd hire someone just to get into their pants!" The woman was clearly agitated and by the time she finished her hysteric rant she was jabbing Gibbs' chest with every word.

"If you're quite finished Abigail I suggest you think about what you've just said." There was anger in Gibbs' eyes and his voice as he spoke in a forced tone, "I do not need to explain myself to you, and I am very disappointed in you for even suggesting I would stoop so low as to hire someone based on their appearance or my attraction to them."

"But Gibbs he's a rich kid and I spoke to his old co-workers and they told me he's an spoiled brat who thinks with his little brain more than the big one, if he has one," The last part was muttered but clearly audible to Gibbs and to Tony who was standing at the doorway unnoticed by the two arguing people.

DiNozzo ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he listened to the conversation taking place, but as he heard the Goth lab tech repeat the thoughts of his old co-workers something in him snapped. The whole thing with his parents and all the harassment he had had to endure in Baltimore and his previous police departments flashed in his mind as he took a step forward and spoke in an angry voice, ignoring the look of surprise on both Abby's and Gibbs' faces.

"Would that be, Miss Scuito, the same co-workers who dedicated themselves to making my life a living hell just because I happened to be a better cop than them despite the fact that I'm more bent than they could deal with?"

"Tony," Gibbs tried to interrupt the younger man, thinking that this couldn't be good for the man whose injuries were still not healed and the lingering effects of the concussion were still there, even if Tony himself would never acknowledge it.

The younger man ignored him and started pacing as he continued, "You can call me many things but I'm not one of those rich kids who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I had to work damn hard first to be able to walk again after an injury that ruined my pro football career and then to become a cop. I fought my way to be a good cop and to become a detective when everyone waited for me to fail. And I'll be damned if I let a spoiled little princess ruin the best thing that has happened to me in a long time just because she can't see beyond the surface." With the last sentence the young man seemed to deflate and his shoulders sank.

Abby looked shocked as she listened to Tony's rant and she looked open mouthed as Gibbs, the second 'b' for bastard to everyone but her, walked over to the younger man and put an arm around his drooping shoulders.

Tony took a deep breath as he finished, he was feeling like shit and he had gotten a headache from all the yelling and ranting. He groaned a bit when he felt an arm sneak around his shoulders and he turned to bury his aching head into the older man's chest.

Gibbs had looked worriedly as Tony worked himself up and now as he held the man close he could feel him pressing his face more firmly into his shirt.

"You okay Tony?" He asked as he ran a hand through the short brown hair.

The younger man shook his head slightly, groaning as the pain in his head intensified with the movement.

"Headache," He whispered softly enough that Gibbs barely caught the word.

Jethro pressed a kiss to the younger man's aching head before he looked up to see the young woman whose presence he had almost forgotten, standing there with a look of envy and contradiction on her face. He sighed tiredly, he loved Abby like a daughter, but sometimes her childishness got the better of her, as well as her wish to be the only important person in Gibbs' life. The older man knew most of this was because the girl was afraid of losing her spot as Gibbs' favorite, but frankly right now he could care less. Tony needed him right now and there was no way he would let the younger man down.

"Go Abby, I don't want to see you if you can't be civil to Tony," Abby nodded dumbfounded and teary eyed at the idea that she had disappointed her silver fox. She turned to leave but was stopped by Gibbs' voice, "And if you think for one second I'm going to let you continue this once Agent DiNozzo starts his work at NCIS you can be damn sure you'll be the one looking for a new job. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Gibbs," She said in a small voice as a tear ran down her cheek. Before she left she took one last look at the two men standing so close. Tony was clinging to the older man and shaking slightly. Her heart melted at the sight and she felt her conviction begin to crumble as doubt filled her mind.

Inside Gibbs steered the shivering man in his arms to lie on the bed in the guest room. He moved to go and get some painkillers for the younger man but he was stopped by a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry LJ. I didn't mean to come between you two."

Gibbs sighed and sat next to Tony who was now sitting up in bed and looking at his lap. The older man stoked his hand trough the mop of hair and smiled as the young Italian leaned into his touch.

"You didn't. She needs to learn that there are consequences for her actions and that the world doesn't revolve around her." He again pulled the younger man into his arms and they stayed like that for a while until Jethro pulled back slightly to see the younger man's face.

"You feeling any better?"

"Not really," Tony answered, in truth it felt like his head would explode and his still healing ribs were hurting as well.

"Lay back and I'll get you something for the pain." Jethro offered as he moved to stand up, but the younger man just tightened his hold on him.

"Don't need it, just tired. Lay with me for a while?" There was certain shyness in the way Tony posed the question that caused Gibbs to smile and there was no other possible answer he could have given but the most obvious.

"Of course," Gibbs said as he lay down on his back and pulled Tony next to him before he wrapped his arms around the younger man. The older man sighed in contentment when he felt Tony's head come to rest on his shoulder and an arm sneak over his belly.

Tony looked up at the silver haired man and despite the headache and everything that had happened; he couldn't help but let a mischievous smile grace his lips. Upon seeing this Jethro raised one eyebrow in question.

"Just thinking that we have some unfinished business I'd like to get over with." Gibbs couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him at the phrasing.

"Get it over with? Well that's a romantic way of putting it." Tony blushed at that and opened his mouth to save his ass, but before he could get a word out, his mouth was covered by LJ's and his eyes closed in bliss as a warm tongue lapped at his slightly parted lips and they deepened the kiss.

The kiss was a bit sloppy and was over quicker than either would have liked, but to Tony it was the best damn kiss he had ever been part of. He smiled slightly as the older man pulled back and pressed the younger man's head back down on his shoulder.

"Get some rest lover boy," Gibbs said and kissed the forehead that was right there begging for a kiss.

The mumbled response from Tony made the older man smile brightly, "On it Boss."

The End.


	17. Author's note

_**A/N: Okay sooooo the first chapter to the sequel is now up and it is called Niente Altro Importa. The fic can be found in my profile since i can't post the link here... sorry :/ **_

_**Hope you'll keep reading and enjoy the sequel :)**_


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